How to Stay Organized as a New Nurse
Learning how to stay organized as a nurse can be challenging — especially as a new nurse. The learning curve is steep, and we're expected to know all of our patients' information and recall it in high-pressure situations.
Organization takes time and experience, but if you're diligent, you can become that organized nurse you've always wanted to be. Use these 7 tips to stay organized and efficient.
1. Get There Early
On my first day as a nurse I arrived at 6:50 am, excited to make a good impression. My preceptor looked at me and said, "You're late — I'm already getting report. You're expected to be here at 6:30." I had no idea I needed to be there so early. But why?
One major key to staying organized is to adequately prepare and "read up" on your patients, which takes time. This is especially important on Med-Surg units where you care for multiple patients at once. Most facilities have a printout with the patient's attending, allergies, diagnoses, and medications. Using those, look through the record for:
If your facility doesn't provide printouts — or you prefer your own — bring them. Now when you get report from the previous shift, you'll already have baseline information, with space to write down what they tell you. As a new nurse, aim to get there about 30 minutes early; with experience, 5–15 minutes will suffice. Note that you're not paid for this time, so it isn't mandatory — but it makes your shift go more smoothly.
What Worked for Me
I'd briefly read up on my patients — vital-sign trends and main admission diagnoses. Then I'd get report, assess each patient and pass meds, and later when I had time, read more deeply into the H&Ps and write down important info for the next shift.
2. Learn to Prioritize
Learning to prioritize is essential. We have so many tasks that figuring out the order can be the difference in an outcome — that seems extreme, but it can be true.
First, prioritize which patients to see first. A patient with more unstable vital signs or serious diagnoses goes to the top of your list. You'd see the patient with CHF on Lasix and oxygen before the comfortable patient with a broken hip who was just medicated. See those who are "more sick" before those who are "less sick," because they're more likely to decompensate — and seeing them sooner means faster intervention.
Also prioritize your tasks. Everyone needs charting and care plans, but timely medication administration is usually more important. Unexpected situations are inevitable: you may need to pause charting to give pain medication to a patient requesting it. Assessing a hypotensive patient takes precedence over giving another patient bedtime pills. Prioritizing and staying flexible is what keeps you organized in the hospital.
3. Make Lists
To prioritize tasks, you first need to know which tasks exist. For experienced nurses this becomes second nature, but as a new nurse you're prone to forgetting, so write it down. I always kept checkboxes on each patient's sheet:
As a new nurse you'll inevitably be task-oriented — that's unavoidable and ensures everything gets done. With experience, your critical thinking improves and completing tasks becomes second nature.
4. Real-Time Chart
I said to prioritize meds and urgent assessments over charting — and that holds. But something that made me an efficient nurse is real-time charting: right after assessing a patient, I'd park my computer-on-wheels outside their door and quickly chart the assessment. It only takes about 5 minutes while the assessment is fresh.
As a new nurse you'll forget to assess important things — with real-time charting you can simply walk back in and complete it. It doesn't take as much time as you think: with 6 patients, that's only about 30 minutes total.
How My Night Flowed
I'd start assessing and charting after report around 7:30, moving patient to patient. Once 8pm hit, I'd do the night-time med pass — assess, medicate, then chart — and double back to medicate the first patients. By 10pm all my patients were assessed, medicated, and charted, leaving the rest of the night for admissions, rounding, call bells, care plans, and reading H&Ps.
See also: Top 6 Charting Tips for Newbie Nurses.
5. Investigate Before Notifying
Doing proper investigation before notifying a provider improves communication, ensures the patient gets what they need, and helps avoid a negative interaction with a provider that can put a damper on your shift. Anticipate the questions they'll ask:
Include any recommendations you have, and use a proper SBAR format. SBAR always left me wanting more, so I made up an "IMSBAR" format — read all about it in Calling the Doctor.
6. Stock Up
Staying organized also means being ready for whatever happens — having the right equipment at the ready. Hospital supplies worth stashing in your pockets:
It's also smart to carry a bottle or two of lotion or barrier cream so you're not always running to the clean utility room. Having this equipment saves time, makes you more efficient, and keeps you organized.
7. Know When You're Actually Working
Knowing when you're working is an underrated part of staying organized. I'd be lying if I said I never got the call: "Where are you — you're on the schedule today?"
I use a nurse-specific scheduling app to track my shifts. What I love is being able to see colleagues' schedules and even request a shift switch within the app. Whatever app or calendar you use, always know when you're working.
