Tips on How Nurses can Manage their Time
How A Nurse Can Manage His or Her Time
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that nursing is growing at a rate of over 26% compared to other occupations. Furthermore, hourly pay is $31 per hour. It’s a job that will fulfill you, but challenge you immensely. Your mental, physical and spiritual health should be at full strength to endure the long hours and intense situations that go with the profession.
If you were to talk with a nurse, he or she would tell you that the job can be overwhelming, especially if you do not have time management figured out. Time management is an important part of the profession, since you must stay organized and optimized your daily activities and not burn out. Here are five tips to remember.
To Do Lists: This is the best way to stay focused on the tasks at hand. This is extremely important in emergency rooms, where time is often limited. While some jobs only require “mental notes” about daily activities, nursing is a job that does require physical notes, whether on paper or an electronic device. You cannot afford to let important facts or tasks go unfinished. Make a list of all of the items to do each day or week, depending on your schedule. Check off each task as you complete it, to make sure that all assignments have been finished.
Delegate Tasks where Possible: Part of being an effective worker is to know what you can delegate, to whom and where. Delegating demonstrates leadership abilities. You do have the authority to delegate certain tasks to selected co-workers, typically if you are pressed for time and have other important tasks to take care of. If this is the case, there is no harm in asking another qualified nurse to take care of the job for you. Your co-workers will eventually ask you the same favor, and this is why the nursing staff operates as a team.
Set Time Limits for Yourself: If you are responsible for many patients at a time, then you must have strict deadlines for meeting quotas and accomplishing tasks. Sometimes this is difficult to ensure because patients will have many questions and do want to converse about many topics. You must be able to set a time limit for yourself and communicate this limit to others who will always be asking you for favors. One way you can do this is to state ahead of time how long you can speak, such as saying “I only have about fifteen minutes…” This shows commitment, but still gives patients proper respect.
Write Down Answers: Your patients are always going to have questions. Nurses have found that writing information down on a dry erase board is extremely effective in not only establishing a name-based relationship, but also stating frequently asked questions about scheduling, medication directions, and other vitals.
Prioritize: Prioritizing tasks are pertinent because there will always be patients, nurses, doctors and administrators asking you to do things for them and you must be able to organize and prioritize all of these tasks in order of importance, and in order of time-sensitive projects. Obviously, life threatening situations are your first priority. Answering questions is secondary.
If you follow these tips, you will stay focused, organized and best of all, calm and collected, ready to work effectively.
