As a nurse, efficiency is very, very important that it could mean the difference between life and death for patients. This is especially true if the nurse has a multitude of patients, or, in contrast, one or two patients with a critical condition.
Below is a video by YouTuber Ashley Adkins, RN on how to be an efficient nurse:
According to Ashley Adkins, a nurse has to be organized and has to manage her time. It may be time to give medication to a patient, but then the patient has to go to the bathroom or do something else entirely, that the necessary time for giving the medication may have passed, or worse, may have been forgotten entirely.
For new admissions, there is the need for various supplies such as bedsheets, DNR bands, allergy bands, and even the remote control for the telly, as well as all kinds of requirements for the newly admitted patient. It can be very chaotic.
Some things you can do to increase your efficiency as a nurse is to first look at the patient’s report and look for the needed medications. Then, look and study if there need to be procedures and lab tests to be done.
After this, make a list of all the things you need to do during your shift, such as giving medication at 16:00 hours, changing the IV fluids at 17:00, and at 18:00 give a dress change, etcetera. This gives you a list of things to do in chronological order, and once you get one thing done, you may cross it out and proceed to the next task, until you finish them all. This method takes all the chaos out of the shift and provides order and efficiency.
Another thing to do is not to procrastinate, especially when you have downtime. For example, you may do the dress change 30 minutes earlier than your schedule, as this is not a time-critical activity before the shift gets busy.
Also, put the things you need such as alcohol swabs or other necessities in your pocket, so you do not have to go back and forth to the nurses’ station or supply room to get them over and over again.
These are just some tips to become efficient. Have a great career as a nurse!