What is a day in the life of a nurse like?

jennafly · Mar 21, 2009

A day in the life of a nurse is a hard thing to explain in a post, lol... you are right... But lemme try-

I am a newer grad and have been working in an urban ED for the past 1 year and 10 months. I can't tell you how many mornings I went home in tears during my training because the learning curve is vicious!:flamesonb

That being said, it did get better. Regardless of what unit you work on, your day should start with a nurse to nurse report, where you will get the necessary info on the patients you will care for during your shift... You'll hear why the patient is in the hospital, pertinent medical history, what meds/procedures/diagnostics, etc. were done and what the next course of action will be, among other things. Hopefully, you get a thorough report so you don't have to investigate things or realize something too late into your shift.

Then you should "round" on your patients, let them know who you are, do your own assessment, check vitals...

You need to stay on top of MD orders, ( in the ED they come at random, but the floors generallly have a MAR, or medication administration record, you can refer to for administration times- I'm sure they probably can change mid-shift though!) I've never done floor nursing, so maybe someone else can help ya out there...

During your shift you have to cope with many things, feeding pts, clean ups, admissions... the list goes on. Patient conditions can change, you'll need to be astute in your assessments and note any trends in vitals. You have many, many tasks that need completing and your time is VERY valuable... you need to be able to gracefully excuse yourself from the lonely patient that wants to talk with you for hours. You need to be thick skinned when a patient is irritable and curses you for something beyond your control. You need to remain calm in situations where the patient condition changes to unstable.

You need to be willing to ask questions upon questions, even if it seems you're bugging those you ask. Have to be willing to accept criticism and know, MOST of the time, it is meant to make you a better nurse. Have to realize that some nurses really do 'eat their young'. (those nurses SUCK!) And most importantly, really WANT to be a nurse...

I heard the same things when I was in nursing school, even from nurses, lol. "You really wanna do that?" "Why?" I read in one of those corny nursing gift catalogs that "Nursing is the hardest job you'll ever love" I think the corny mag was right.

Good luck to you in whatever you do- hope this helps!

P.S. You'll probably get night shift initially and this post barely scratches the surface of what a typical day is like. There are just SO MANY THINGS that occur during a shift! Your school may be able to help you shadow somewhere.

jjjoy, LPN · Mar 24, 2009

One sample:

1) Get report on patients (let's use six patients in this example) - that is find out from the previous nurse what's been happening with each of the patients so far (why are they in the hospital, what treatments they're getting, any dietary restrictions, mobility restrictions, etc).

2) Review all patient orders that need to be taken care of... medications, dressing changes, etc. Make a check-off list for each patient of what needs to be done at what time.

3) Go to see all six patients so that one has a baseline assessment to compare any later changes with... and to catch if any patient has new, immediate problems (bleeding, pain, unconscious, etc). Introduce oneself, make sure the patient is stable and not in pain. Chart your findings on all six patients.

4) Administer medications. Each of the six patient has at least a couple of medications due regularly and one has to document all the meds given as well, and deal with random distractions (eg patient needs to use the bedpan, a request for pain medication etc), so that may take an hour. There is much opportunity for errors during medication administration (wrong med to wrong patient, wrong dose, allergies, etc) so the nurse must be vigilent and not rush mindlessly through.

5) Take care of other tasks such as hanging new IV bags, changing dressings, getting a patient ready to go home, assisting patient with bathing and toileting, checking that pressure ulcers aren't developing. Answer patient questions, teach patients and family about their meds and procedures being done. Keep an eye out for new orders. Review lab results as needed. Look out for any problems regarding patient urination, bowel movements and food and fluid intake. Chart all assessments and tasks done for each patient.

6) If there are signs of problematic changes, one may need to call the physician to get new orders. One may find a patient is having an acute crisis and need to put off the needs of their other five patients and focus on taking care of the crisis patient NOW. Then later catch up with one's other patients. Don't forget to chart what happened!

7) Repeat 4-6 as needed throughout shift

8) Review for each patient their current status, what was done today, what needs to be done, any new orders, etc and report off to the next nurse taking over. If it's a really busy day, a nurse may not be able to finish everything and may need to pass on some unfinished business to the next shift.Go home!