Hi! So you've survived your first patient report and now it's time to hit the
floor but boy I sure got a lot of information there, and I don't even know
where to start. Oh and by the way I got a note saying my
patient is leaving for a test in a half an hour.
I need help! So today we're talking about organizational plans: how to make your
workload manageable during your shift. I certainly use them in my daily life
but this isn't gonna help me here today. Instead what I'm looking for is a
template a document where I can put all of my thoughts and care goals on one
sheet so I can keep track of where I am and where I'm supposed to be. So in
working with my organizational template I've already put my patient's name in
here in room number and code statu. One of the first things I do is I would take
their care record and chart that I've assumed care of them. I want to complete
my patient research and this involves looking at that nurse to nurse report,
looking at the patient's file and medication admin. So when I look at Mr.
Manners medication MAR I see I have medications at 8 and 12 and again at
1400, so I want to make sure all those times are in there and equally, I want to
make sure that if there's any assessment attached to those that I've reflected
that as well. So now look he's got Lantis and insulin Aspart at 8 o'clock and
then another dose at 12. So usually those are connected with a chem strip so I've
added in a chem strip here at 8 o'clock and at 12 o'clock. I do need to still add
in my 1400 med so I'm going to put that here as well. Now I see a lot of IV meds
at 8 o'clock so I want to make sure that I do my line verification before I
administer any IV medications.
Another resource I'm going to check is the patients orders. When I look at his
orders for today I see he has a hemoglobin of 76 pale and confused and
he has IV at 250 running and he's getting 2 units of red blood cells over
4 hours. So I want to make sure again and now have normal saline at 250, I need to
verify that is correctly running, and that there are 2 units of red blood
cells to be infused and I need to know the times. I've got some meds that are
discontinued, more meds, more meds, and to consult the PICC team. So this is - I'm
going to put down here in my items to pass on make sure that the PICC team has
been consulted. And this is kind of now my daily schedule. So I've gone ahead and
filled in three imaginary patients to kind of give you a sense of how other
things can be added to your day. In terms of prioritization Terry Manner is
my sickest patient so I'll be seeing him first but I want to organize my day and
be efficient so I'm going to cluster my care. That means I'm gonna grab his
medications and grab a glucometer so that when I go in and I finished his
head to toe, I can give him his eight o'clock medications and draw up his insulin
and everything will be good to go. When I look at my other two patients I see that
George is gonna need to turn in this hour because he's on bed rest and I want
to make sure there are no bed sores. And with that is my am care so I might talk
to my healthcare aide and see if she can start the a.m. care and I'll go see him
next because I want to make sure he's turned I can do my head-to-toe, looking
at his front and back side for skin care and then his care will be taken care of.
And then I'll go to see Janice who is my third one because she needs assistance
with her meal and by the time I finished these assessments, meals may be coming
and I can get her set up for her breakfast meal. So there you have it! The
benefits of using an organizational plan are numerous. Aside from being a great
way to organize your day and prioritize, it's a great communication tool. if I'm
stuck in a patient's room say in isolation or maybe I've got a patient
who's decompensating, I can end this off to my buddy nurse and she knows
exactly where I am and what needs to be done. Similarly, leave it behind when you go on
break. It can be a communication tool between you and your buddy nurse in
terms of prioritizing her workload in your absence. Don't forget to subscribe
before you go and let me know in the comment section if these videos are
helping and if you have ideas for future videos. Share these with your friends and
check out the other videos I have on medication administration, cranial nerves,
heart blood flow. electrical activity, and more to come