August 24, 2010
Time Management in Nursing
Nursing is a demanding career in and of itself. Without effective time management both at work and at home, a nurse can easily become affected by prolonged stress. Because balance is necessary in life, time management is a skill you do not want to hesitate mastering.
Learning to manage your time effectively is highly rewarding. By managing time, you become more effective and less hassled. At the end of the workday, you return home with a little more energy and a better attitude. In the end, time management skills improve your quality if life immensely.
The first order of business in time management is to create orderly workspaces. This goes for work and home. Wherever you perform paperwork, you need space and order. Before you can begin managing your time, you have to have organization in your workspace. Clean off your desk and put everything in a proper place. Install extra file folders if necessary and purge files no longer needed. Once your space is cleaned up and efficient, maintain it by clearing it off at the end of every day.
Now that you have workspaces that are ready to serve you; you can set out to get more done. Not that you are supposed to take on more work. On the contrary, time management will likely include saying “no” more often. But effective time management actually allows you to accomplish more with less anxiety, so you will get more done in a lot less time than usual.
Lists are wonderful things; they help you remember to get everything you need from the grocery store and can also help you get tasks done at work and at home. It is helpful to create a to-do list every day. In fact, creating two lists is ideal – one for home and one for work. On your to-do list, prioritize tasks; putting those you dislike first. Be sure to mark off as many items as possible each day so you don’t become overloaded as the week wears on.
Sometimes as you make out your to-do list you will realize that many items you have written are tasks that you can delegate to someone else. Find out what tasks you can give away to others. Remember, there is no need to try and do everything yourself. This kind of a mindset will bring you nothing but pressure. You have a support system in place to help you. This consists of co-workers, friends and family. Utilize the support system that you have to get more done.
Charting is a big part of a nurse’s routine. In order to stay focused and avoid getting bogged down at the end of your shift, make a habit of charting every few hours. This enables you to chart while issues are still fresh in your mind and reduces a rush when it comes time to go home.
Time for yourself should also be included on your list every single day. This could be at home, during your lunch hour, or on the way to work in the mornings. Whatever time you can capture needs to be spent to rejuvenate and do something you love doing.
August 20, 2010
The Nurse’s Life: Tips for Avoiding Burnout
As a nurse, you tend to the needs and requests of others consistently all throughout each shift. If your shift runs 10 to 12 hours, it is likely that you will be pretty worn out at the end of the day. Not dealing with the stresses of your job can lead to something called burnout. Everyone has heard this term and every one of us is susceptible to it. In nursing, experiencing burnout is not uncommon; but it is an issue that needs to be addressed head on and as quickly as possible. The depression that comes with burnout can threaten your relationships with co-workers, patients and even friends and family.
The good news is that burnout is an issue that you can avoid when you are aware of its occurrence. If you are already suffering exhaustion, it can be healed. You are not stuck and you do not have to give up your career as a nurse. How do you know if you are burned out in your job? Ask yourself these questions:
• Does every day seem to be a bad day?
• Does it take too much energy to think about work?
• Do you feel exhausted much of the time?
• Do you find work either extremely dull or overwhelming?
If you answer yes to most of these questions, you are suffering from burnout. This emotional state is caused by excessive and/or prolonged stress. When in this state, you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet what seem like constant demands for your attention. If left unattended or unrecognized, this tension leads you to lose the interest or motivation that led you becoming a nurse in the first place.
There are days when everyone feels unappreciated or overwhelmed. Life as a nurse is hectic and so it is unrealistic to expect never to experience days when you’d like to just pull the covers back over your head and go back to sleep. When the feelings of helplessness and exhaustion seem to be dragging you down, attention is needed to put yourself back on track and on your feet again.
To bring life back into your emotional state, you must figure out what it is that is causing excessive stress at work. Are you bending to the requests of numerous people in an attempt to not rock the boat? Do you have a habit of dropping what you’re doing to attend to someone else’s needs? Is a co-worker or manager particularly difficult to work with?
No matter how long you have been on the job, it is important that you address issues head on. By asserting yourself rather that behaving in a passive manner, you will feel better. If necessary, you may need to clarify your role and job duties if you are taking on more than you can realistically accomplish.
The field of nursing is wide open and contains many niches. If after careful consideration you discover that you need a new situation, find another area of nursing to work in. Perhaps your personality is too adventurous to stick with one field for several years and taking on a new role in a new department is your ticket to happiness.
Nursing Tales 