Why are some RNs rarely busy, while others are always busy

Nurses General Nursing

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Is the RN who is not busy all the time a better nurse, more organized, and efficient? Or is the busy RN the better nurse? I've seen RNs who are never busy, but others nurses say they are horrible nurses.

As people have pointed out is too varied to know. It is suspect anyone who is always busy (some nurses honestly would be hectic if they had even just one patient) or always having an easy day (probably a lot more they could be doing to improve patient care) but in general nurses probably lean one way or another.

I don’t chitchat until I am all caught up. I process information really fast so I can usually chart and keep on top of things quicker than the average person. I am not really into learning a patient’s life story. So although I am polite I don’t go out of my way to have non relevant conversations with them.

I rarely drown at work - it might be a mad dash all day but I exclusively only get out late if it is due to waiting to give report. I have a decent amount of chill days. But on average my day is steady with me being fortunate enough to have the time to ferret out information or make a lot of calls or fix errors. Things that nurses who are “always so busy” wouldn’t have time to do.

7 Votes

I see some nurses who are always busy and always charting way after their shift. I see nurses who are always out on time, even early.

Some of those late nurses are just super detail oriented on every single thing. They are very methodical and good nurses. Some of the on time ones are also good nurses, they can just multi task very well and be very efficient.

Then you have the others that talk too much, are not good at time management, and are always behind. Others pay not attention to details and miss tons of things, leave a mess for the oncoming shift, yet leave on time.

I often like to take the first hour to get myself going. I will organize my day, read the chart, clean my area, Chet for a second, round with doctors. Then, I bust it into gear. I’m out on time for the most part, unless something crazy happens. The thing about nursing is, your plans can go to crap in a second. So while you may think you are caught up, you really are not.

7 Votes

When I first became a nurse I used to be suspicious of nurses that always seemed to be relaxed and 'together' throughout the shift. By the time I left the floor, I was one of those nurses. I learned to be efficient and when things got stressful.........to take a deep breath and figure out my plan of attack so I could get my work done. Panicking and getting excited is never a great plan and often when you dig in to the tasks at hand it isn't as time consuming as you had anticipated. I sometimes would help other seasoned nurses who always seemed to struggle and the things that would overwhelm them would be simple things like med passes in the midst of other tasks such as blood transfusions. Doing a few simple med passes for them would get them back on track and calm ............but the truth is....those med passes would have take them just a few minutes at most. Nursing can be a mind game at times.

4 Votes
Specializes in Emergency.

If I'm not running my behind off, like when I get a bunch of discharges but no admits, the first thing I do is find the nurse buddy who's desperately trying to catch up. I'm lucky to work with a top-notch team now, but I've worked with the other.

5 Votes

For various reasons. Some have easier assignments, some are more organized, some move a lot quicker. On the other hand, some have too much chit-chat with everyone they see and so it takes longer to do everything, some have poor time management skills, and some don't actually do the work.

I've worked after nurses who never seemed busy, and it turned out treatments were never done, medications were never given but all signed out, but also worked on assignments that were just super easy so there was no much to do. I've also worked after or with nurses who always got done on time because they were really efficient and didn't chit chat until everything was done. I've worked with nurses who were wonderful nurses, but never got out on time because they couldn't type and it would take them so long to document anything and because they were so slow doing anything on the computer because they didn't work well with computers.

So basically, a lot of different reasons:)

4 Votes

I've noticed on the ambulatory side that staff can get away with being lazy and doing whatever they want. You pretty much would have to kill a patient to get fired. Laziness is just not a part of my character.

1 Votes
11 minutes ago, 2BS Nurse said:

I've noticed on the ambulatory side that staff can get away with being lazy and doing whatever they want.

Not where I work. What a rude statement.

2 Votes
2 hours ago, 2BS Nurse said:

I've noticed on the ambulatory side that staff can get away with being lazy and doing whatever they want. You pretty much would have to kill a patient to get fired. Laziness is just not a part of my character.

I think you need to give us more information. Ambulatory what? What does an ambulatory nurse do, or what type of clinic or unit is it?

3 Votes

We used to have workers in the "good ol boys" club. They were the manager's favorites and always got the plush tasks. He wanted to let me into this "club" but I distanced myself because this behavior disgusts me. I've since observed this behavior in other jobs I've had.

My philosophy is that I will never ask a fellow worker to do a task that I myself will not do. I believe in order to gain respect one must demonstrate this by performing the hardest tasks to show them that you are one of them. This approach has never failed me, and I have the most loyal and happy workers.

In healthcare ,however, there seems to be a class of snobs I've noticed. Almost no one likes them. They must have been the "gunners" while in med school.

1 Votes
On 4/11/2020 at 5:21 PM, DesiDani said:

Is the RN who is not busy all the time a better nurse, more organized, and efficient? Or is the busy RN the better nurse? I've seen RNs who are never busy, but others nurses say they are horrible nurses.

For myself when I worked I tended to be very organized....I worked NICU. How "busy* my shift was depended on the acuity of the assignment. I also worked nights. If all caught up and no family around I often did computer lesrning....so many free CEU"s online! But that was after offering help to my colleagues.

2 Votes
On 4/12/2020 at 9:24 AM, meanmaryjean said:

I used to work with a nurse who spent the FIRST hour of her shift having breakfast, a second cup of coffee and schmoozing with her co-workers - and the LAST hour of her shift begging for help because she was so hopelessly behind.

Boy I think we all have worked with people like that. The social butterfly!! Love to hear themselves talk! Usually members of the clique...beware! Back-stabbers!

3 Votes
Specializes in Supervisor.

Yes and Yes potentially.

Bigger fish to fry here but:

It doesn't really matter about other nurse's level of busy-ness. Why some are or aren't is a topic we can file in "The mysteries of the universe."

Unless you see something overtly negligent or obviously lazy, don't worry about it.

If you feel appropriate, either deliver respectful feedback directly to your colleague if you notice an area of improvement or have your leader/manager/supervisor deliver the feedback.

But, mostly:

You should be too busy yourself to worry about your colleagues are doing because patient care ceases to end.

2 Votes
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