Tips for Nurses on Managing Their Time

Effective time management in nursing aids nurses in balancing their many roles as caregivers, administrators, students, and individuals. Despite the high demands of the nursing profession, nurses who learn to effectively manage their time can find a healthy work-life balance.

Benefits accrue to nurses who master the art of time management. The International Journal of Caring Sciences reports that successful time management in nursing can lead to:

• Enhanced efficiency
• Decreased anxiety
• Enhanced effectiveness
• Better chances for career advancement
• Possibility of realizing one's professional and personal ambitions

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Prioritize Achievable Objectives

Nurses can boost their output by taking the first step of writing down both their immediate and long-term objectives. Researchers in the healthcare industry say that one common error is "letting short-term time demands take precedence over longer-term goals." ”

In the nursing profession, short-term goals (within one to three years) are encouraged. attaining financial independence) while working toward more distant goals that can be accomplished in five to ten years (e.g. holding administrative or supervisory roles in clinical settings)

Tasks for the day can be prioritized by working nurses or nursing students. While the day's priorities may shift, nurses can benefit from establishing routines around the routines they perform most frequently.

 

2. Establish Regular Procedures

Routinization is a method for improving nurses' productivity. In order to better manage one's time, it is helpful to establish routines by "repeating what works in your routine in a systematic process." By establishing regular habits and eliminating the need for elaborate scheduling, nurses can better manage their time and care for their patients.

Routinization is something we do every day when we get up, wash our hair, and brush our teeth; it's also something nurses use. Tasks like taking patient histories and conducting physical examinations, which occur repeatedly throughout the day, are prime candidates for routineization.

A nurse should write out a list of routine duties, then arrange them in order of increasing importance and decreasing time commitment. Creating a systematic plan for repetitive tasks can significantly improve your daily productivity.

 

Step Three: Engage in Mental Piling

The obvious solution is to establish a routine in order to deal with routine tasks, but how should nurses handle dealing with irregularities and surprises? Cognitive stacking is a "workflow management process that aids nurses in establishing priorities and managing their time," as stated by the Lippincott Nursing Center. ”

Effective time management in nursing requires the ability to adapt to new situations. Using cognitive stacking, working nurses can figure out what kind of care is required, what kind of care is feasible, and how they can best provide the required care given their current set of constraints. As new, more pressing needs arise, nurses must constantly rearrange their workload.

 

4. Relax and Recharge

Health care workers are especially vulnerable to burnout because of their profession. More than 15% of surveyed nurses reported experiencing burnout, and 56% of those same nurses reported that their healthcare institution was only somewhat or not at all effective in addressing the issue. There are negative outcomes that burnout can cause as well.

• Patient care has decreased in quality.
• Health care providers have poor mental health.
• Health care workers report higher rates of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.
• More often than not, mistakes happen in a hospital.

Improving productivity is only one aspect of time management in the nursing profession. It entails scheduling in downtime to rejuvenate In order to avoid burnout, nurses should take time off frequently and relax.

 

Distribute Duties

Even after perfecting their time management skills, nurses frequently reach out to their colleagues for assistance. The American Nurses Association (ANA) has published a manual on delegation principles to aid in the efficient use of nurses' time.

Delegation in nursing is defined as "assigning the performance of activities or tasks related to patient care to unlicensed assistive personnel while retaining accountability for the outcome." ”

Nurses will learn how to make ethical choices about delegating their work from this manual. The American Nurses Association (ANA) recommends the following criteria for a nurse's delegation decision:

• Patients' care complexity
• The accessibility of the delegated worker
• The necessary level of supervision
• How strict the necessary supervision must be

In the healthcare industry, delegation is most effective when staff members get along well, have good communication skills, and are able to work together effectively. When a registered nurse (RN)'s professional judgment is required, delegation is not an option. Instead of being used for critical nursing responsibilities, this time management tool can be used for more mundane administrative tasks or routine procedures.

 

Take Advantage of a Convenient Online DNP Program 6.

By juggling school, family, and work, nurses gain experience juggling multiple priorities. Doctor of Nursing Practice - Family Nurse Practitioner (DNP-FNP) programs available online provide students with the flexibility to study at their own pace while also teaching them how to effectively manage their time in the nursing profession.

In order to accommodate working nurses' schedules, Marymount University's DNP-FNP program is offered on a part-time basis. Courses like "Innovative Models of Care Delivery," which teach students how to strike a balance between efficiency and quality of care, can be a concrete part of an advanced nursing degree program.

 

7 Make Use Of A Medical Job-Finding Service

It can be difficult and time-consuming for nursing students to find an appropriate clinical placement. Choosing a nursing program that guarantees a job can help students save time.

Marymount University's Clinical Placement Coordinators use the university's extensive network of healthcare professionals and other resources to find each student an ideal clinical experience. Instead of spending time independently finding a placement, students can focus on doing their very best work once they've found it.

Students learn to apply what they've learned in classes like "Leadership, Quality, and Ethics in Health Care" to actual practice during clinical rotations during their nursing education.

 

Create a Network of Encouragement

For decades, practicing nurses have struggled with the challenge of time management in the nursing profession. Nursing students benefit from forming relationships with their peers, teachers, and practicing nurses so that they can learn from one another's experiences and develop a strong support network.

It would be impossible to overstate the value of mentorship for nurses. Researchers found the following benefits to result from a healthy mentor-mentee nursing partnership in one case study:

• Reduced turnover among nursing staff
• Felt less alone
• Possibility of advancement rises
• There will be less downtime between lessons.
• Success in the Classroom Is Enhanced

Improved teaching efficiency and shorter learning transition times allow nursing students to immediately apply what they've learned in the classroom to their clinical practice. Success is made possible, and time is saved, when one becomes part of a community of nursing experts and teachers.

 

Don't Try to Juggle Too Many Things at Once

You probably have a long list of things to do as a nurse or nursing student, but remember that you only need to focus on one thing at a time. According to recent studies, multitasking is not only inefficient, but also harmful to our brains. As the brain processes multiple tasks at once, it becomes less effective at processing visual and auditory information. The results of the study indicated that multitasking results in:

• Multitasking reduces productivity.
• Results suffer when juggling multiple tasks.
• Less capable of setting priorities
• Performs worse when surrounded by other multitaskers.

In order to improve patient care, nurses should focus on one task at a time. Limiting one's ability to multitask can be accomplished through the use of delegation, prioritization, and the elimination of distractions.

 

Ten. Get Rid of Distractions

Distractions abound in today's world, from constant social media updates on smartphones to chatty coworkers in open-concept offices. Successful time management in the nursing profession requires that typical time wasters be avoided.

Distractions and interruptions from patients, visitors, and coworkers are common in the healthcare industry. Medication administration is a particularly risky task that increases the likelihood of error when attention is diverted.

Nurses can reduce the risk of medication errors by using "interruption handling strategies," according to one study. Setting a timer and focusing on one task at a time are two additional ways for nursing students to eliminate distractions while studying.

 

How to Make the Most of Your Time in a Doctor of Nursing Practice Program

Students in a Doctor of Nursing Practice - Family Nurse Practitioner (DNP-FNP) program who are also working nurses need to develop skills in nursing time management in order to successfully juggle their academic and clinical obligations. Developing a sense of equilibrium between school and work now can pay dividends later in life.

The Doctor of Nursing Practice Family Nurse Practitioner program at Marymount University provides students with an adaptable online curriculum, free clinical placement services, access to a global network of nursing experts, and the tools necessary to maximize time management in the nursing profession.

Time management skills are just one of many ways in which a Doctor of Nursing Practice–Family Nurse Practitioner program prepares its graduates to become effective nurses. There is a significant need for highly educated nurses. The BLS predicts a 45 percent increase in demand for nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners from 2019 to 2029. Consequently, nurses' annual salaries have increased to an average of $115,800.

An online Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in Family Nurse Practitioner degree from Marymount University can prepare you for a career as a healthcare leader by giving you the following opportunities:

• Assistance with finding a clinical placement at no extra cost
• Part-time, online study that fits your schedule
• Get in touch with your fellow students, professors, and successful alums.
• No need for the GMAT or the GRE
• Excellent success in obtaining either the AANP or ANCC FNP certification.

You can earn your DNP-FNP online from Marymount University and thrive in your nursing career with the help of the school's committed faculty, Enrollment Advisors, Student Success Advisors, and Clinical Placement Services team.

Are You Prepared to Move Forward?

Find out more about Marymount University's DNP-FNP program if you're interested in a career as a nurse practitioner.

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