Stay Organized With These Nursing Tips

Stay Organized With These Nursing Tips

Are you a nurse? If yes, you must know how it feels when everything seems like getting out of control. The world is moving fast, and you are trying to keep up with it. To tell you the truth, you are not the only nurse who feels that way. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether you are a new nurse or an experienced one.

So, if you are having any trouble in organizing things at work, these tips will help you!

01 –A Quick Pre-Report Review

Make a habit to always check three things in a report before chatting with the off-going nurse. These three things are – whether there is any overdue medication or not, vitals are stable or not, and there are not any alert lab values.

You can dive into the rest of the chart later. The reason for this quick pre-report chart review is it becomes difficult to track down the off-going nurse and ask them all these questions while they are halfway home.

02 – Setup Your Report Sheets

Another important tip is keeping the reports organized. You need to create a report sheet to get a quick reference detail. Have space in your report where you note down all the questions for the physician, labs, new vitals, etc.

It’s about opening the report sheets and quickly have a glance at what needs to be done today. You wouldn’t have to flip pages if you setup reports sheets for yourself.

03 – Review Every Patient’s Chart Carefully

Take some time to review your patient’s report thoroughly before seeing them. Verify report information, check their med timings, and make sure to have all the essential details to answer every question clearly. Here is how to do it all efficiently:

How To Do It:

  • Know a patient’s name, gender, age, status, allergies, and doctors
  • Medical history and make sure that the off-going nurse did not miss anything
  • Latest ED admit note from ED provider if applicable
  • Meds – writing down the timings
  • Latest lab reports (24-48 hours)
  • Vitals – latest set if abnormal and noting trends

04 – Have A Flexible Plan

You can never make a perfect plan when it comes to the workplace. Instead, make a plan that doesn’t stress you out in case of any immediate changes. Be flexible about changes and have a checklist on your report sheet to keep in mind your tasks for the day.

Your checklist depends on your unit, for instance:

  • Care plan
  • Assessment
  • Education
  • Telemetry strip
  • I&O (around 1600/0400)

These tips are helpful for both new and seasoned nurses. Try to add all these tips to your everyday work life, and create an organized system that works for you. Once you start staying organized, you will be able to complete every task on time, and you will notice a drastic improvement in your overall performance at work.