Tips on Time Management in Clinicals

[Bubbly26, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone. I wanted to ask a few questions about time management in clinicals.

At my clinical site, we have two patients to take care of plus vitals signs, all accuchecks on the floor, bed baths,change linens, and also pass meds...all of this must be done before 11 am.

I feel a bit overwhelmed at times so I was wondering if anyone could offer tips on time management. This is my first semester I am feeling a little lost.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone

[Jenngirl34RN]

Make yourself a brain sheet and really plan out what you are going to do and how you are going to do it. I usually start with a quick chart review (5 minutes) to make sure there are no medication changes and to double check the meds/times and to see if the patients have any procedures or appointments I need to plan around. Then I do quick vitals/assessment and chart them first thing, for both patients. Accuchecks/insulin depends on meal times, and meds need to be passed on time too, so I really plan my bed baths/linen changes/ADLs around when I need to be getting that done.

At the end of the day, you need to prioritize- if it is a super busy morning and your patients are high accuity and you know you may not get everything done, ask yourself this: What will happen to my patient(s) if I miss something or am late?

If you miss or are late on a linen change it is probably not the end of the world (unless the patient has had an accident or something), but being late on a med pass is a much bigger deal. If you don't do vitals/assessment, what might you miss? If you don't do an Accucheck/insulin at the appropriate time before a meal, what might that mean for your patient? What is likely to happen to your patient if they are 30 minutes late getting a bed bath?

If the answer is "not much will happen to my patient" then that item will be a lower priority than something that may adversly effect your patient.

Hope that helps!

[RunBabyRN]

Jenngirl34 has the right idea. Look at what will happen if that task happens now versus later or not at all. What will the outcome be? If blood sugar checks happen off-schedule, how might that impact the patient? If their linens aren't changed, how might that impact the patient? Consider, too, the diagnosis/diagnoses. A patient there for a hip fracture versus cellulitis might have different priorities. Is there anything there you might be able to group together?

Ask the nurses, too. They've likely developed tricks and ways to speed things up to help them get the job done. Work on doing things CORRECTLY before doing them FAST.