7 Tips for Managing Your Workload as a Student Nurse
Feb 28, 2023
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Time management is one of the most important skills for nurses as it helps them remain organized and prioritize patient care. However, things can get complicated for student nurses with much to balance. They should also find time to provide care while completing schoolwork, which is often challenging. In this article, we will look at ways to help them manage their workloads better, sometimes even lightening them.Learn to Prioritize
This one is challenging, and learning how to do it effectively will take some time. Learning to prioritize tasks and finding the most optimal path to doing so is a major challenge for many student nurses, which is why learning to prioritize is typically taught in nursing schools. The tasks a student nurse handles will vary every day. Couple this uncertainty with the additional learning they have to do, and you can see why setting priorities is so important.
Setting priorities allows student nurses to do everything they should on a given day or period. The best way to do this is to find out the first thing you need to do. Next, ask yourself which tasks are more important than the others and why. Next, consider the consequences of not doing a task or taking action, and finally, ask yourself what is important for you and your patients.
Prioritizing ensures you do not mix things up, keeping them straight so you can handle your workload without too much stress.
Establish Routines
Establishing routines, also called routinization, entails doing things that systematically work in your daily routine. These routines and systematic actions will help you develop ways to ensure you complete everything you need and ensure you do not feel overwhelmed.
A good example is choosing to study in the morning, taking breakfast, and then heading to your station. This routine recognizes that you might be too tired or get off work too late to study, which would hurt your progress.
Routinization is also essential when doing your work as a student nurse. It ensures that you handle all your responsibilities and provide the care patients need without missing anything.
To start, list what you do on a typical day and the steps required to complete each. It would help if you also used prioritization to ensure you handle the most important and consequential tasks first. You can then follow these steps until they become part of your routine.
Enroll in Flexible Online Programs
Student nurses need to learn how to balance their academic responsibilities with their personal and professional lives. RN to MSN online bridge programs teach nurses the skills they need to provide the best care, ensure the best patient outcomes, and manage time. They also allow students the flexibility they need to handle everything else they may have going on.
The RN to MSN online program also saves nurses time since they can bypass getting a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Science in Nursing degree.
Learn Cognitive Stacking
Routines are great for things you can predict and where you have steps you can follow. But what happens when unforeseen changes or unpredictable tasks come up? Cognitive stacking is a technique used in many fields, and it entails putting aside things in your mind in their order of importance in nursing.
Once you have the resources and time, you can start working on each of the things you did not have time to handle before. Cognitive stacking is an excellent skill for ensuring you are not overwhelmed, which can make managing your workload a mess.
Remember to Rest
As a student nurse, you are expected to handle many things while also learning. Burnout is a real possibility if you keep going without resting and can have serious consequences. More than one in six nurses have reported feelings of burnout. While the number is slightly lower in student nurses because they have not been in the field as long, burnout is still possible.
Burnout can harm your work and learning outcomes, which is a great reason to schedule some time to take breaks. Even if work is hectic, take your lunch break every day. Also, try to get as much sleep as possible, even though we understand that it is sometimes not possible to get enough sleep, especially for people with as many obligations as student nurses. Get a good mattress, ensure your bedroom is conducive for falling asleep faster and getting quality sleep, and learn how to prioritize sleep.
Remember that managing your workload is about getting things done and taking the time to rest, recharge, and take care of yourself.
Start Earlier
When you work long shifts, you might only want to be at the hospital or your station for as long as you have to. However, arriving earlier can have some benefits. You will have time to get things organized, familiarize yourself with what is expected on that day, and get in the best headspace for the day.
Starting early also minimizes the time you have to stay behind after a long day unless there is an emergency where you are required for learning purposes. Being able to start early and leave as soon as the day ends means you do not have to stay behind completing tasks when you are completely exhausted. It also gives you enough time to rest and recharge for the following day.
Build a Support System
Time management and balancing the different responsibilities they have is something nurses have been dealing with for decades, which means there are already resources available to help student nurses who may be feeling overwhelmed. These include support systems that include their peers, instructors, other student nurses, and working nurses.
Your peers and other nurses can share their time management tips, and you can share yours for everyone’s collective benefit. You also get people to talk to in case things start getting tough.
Student nurses have a lot of responsibilities and things to take care of. Time management is integral to managing their workloads, so they do not become overwhelmed. Fortunately, numerous tools, tops, and strategies can help with this.
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