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162 unit 2 | Working Within the Organization CikguOnline
box 11-3 of attention, the perspective of the whole and of the
individuals who are your patients may be lost.
Determining How to Maximze Your Time
Some activities must be done at a certain time.
• Set goals.
• Make a schedule. These activities structure the day or week to a great
• Write a to-do list. extent, and their timing may be out of your control.
• Revise and modify the to-do list; do not throw it out. However, in every job there are tasks that can be
• Identify time-wasting behaviors. done whenever you want to do them, as long as
they are done.
In certain nursing jobs, reports and presenta-
tions are often required. For these activities, you
may need to set aside blocks of time during which
Long-Term Planning Systems you can concentrate on the task. Trying to create
At the beginning of the semester, students are told and complete a report in 5- or 10-minute blocks of
the examination dates and when papers will be due. time is unrealistic. By the time you reorient yourself
Many students find it helpful to enter the dates on to the project, the time allotted is over, and nothing
a semester-long calendar so they can be seen at a has been accomplished. Setting aside large blocks
glance. Then the students can see when clusters of of time to do complex tasks is much more efficient.
assignments are due at the same time. This allows Consider energy levels when beginning a big
for advance planning or perhaps requests to change task. Start when levels are high and not at, say, 4:00
dates or get extensions. in the afternoon if that is when you find yourself
Personal digital assistants (PDAs), or hand-held winding down (Baldwin, 2002). For example, if you
organizers, have become quite popular. These are a morning person, plan your demanding work
devices allow both short-term and long-term in the morning. If you get energy spurts later in the
scheduling. PDAs permit storing of personal notes morning or early afternoon, plan to work on larger
and reminders, contact data, Internet access, and or heavier tasks at that time. Nursing shifts may be
other program files. Hand-held devices permit syn- designed in 8-, 10-, or 12-hour blocks. Many nurses
chronization with personal computers and working the night shifts (11 p.m. to 7 a.m. or
Internet-based calendars. 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.) find they have more energy a
little later into their shift rather than at the begin-
Schedules and Blocks of Time ning, whereas nurses working the day shifts (7 a.m.
Without some type of schedule, you are more likely to 3 p.m. or 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) find they have the
to drift through a day or bounce from one activity to most energy at the beginning of their shift. Also,
another in a disorganized fashion. Assignment learn to delegate tasks that do not require profes-
sheets, worksheets, flow sheets, and critical pathways sional nursing skills.
are all designed to help you plan patient care and Some people go to work early to have a block of
schedule your time effectively. The critical pathway uninterrupted time. Others take work home with
is a guide to recommended treatments and optimal them for the same reason. This extends the work-
patient outcomes (see Chapter 10). Assignment sheets day and cuts into leisure time. The higher your
indicate the patients for whom each staff member is stress level, the less effective you will be on the
responsible. Worksheets are then created to organize job—do not bring your work home with you. You
the daily care that must be given to the assigned need some time off to recharge your batteries
patients (see Chapter 9 for examples of worksheets). (Turkington, 1996).
Flow sheets are lists of items that must be recorded
for each patient. Filing Systems
Effective worksheets and flow sheets schedule Filing systems are helpful for keeping track of
and organize the day by providing reminders of important papers. All professionals need to main-
various tasks and when they need to be done. The tain copies of licenses, certifications, continuing
danger in using them, however, is that the more education credits, and current information about
they divide the day into discrete segments, the their specialty area. Keeping these organized in an
more they fragment the work and discourage a easily retrievable system saves time and energy
holistic approach. If a worksheet becomes the focus when you need to refer to them. Using color-coded