Time management is a key skill to have under your belt and utilise during your nursing career. There are many things to implement to develop your time management skills in nursing. Our Head of Quality Improvement, Rhiannon, shares the top time management tips she’s learned during her nursing career.
Top time management nursing tips
During my career, I learned the importance of good time management skills and how essential they are in supporting your clients, colleagues and most importantly, yourself. Effective time management skills can help you to do things to the best of your ability, reduce stress and prioritise the most important tasks.
Below are my top time management tips I would recommend nurses implement in their day-to-day routines:
1. Identify the most important tasks to complete
Identifying the most important tasks to complete will help prioritise the top things needed to support your clients and their care needs. When identifying your most important tasks, note them down in hierarchy of needs for your client and share the list with you colleagues and clinical lead to get a second opinion.
2. Delegate to your colleagues
Your nursing and support worker colleagues are there to support you. There will be times where you have a long list of things to complete during your shift, and there isn’t enough time to complete them. This is where delegating to your colleagues can help you complete your tasks, support the client and encourage teamwork.
3. Take regular breaks
It’s important to take short breaks to give yourself a minute or two to rest your mind and body. Due to the nature of the role, nursing can often bring about reactive multi-tasking. Taking regular breaks can help you maintain your energy levels and reflect on the progress you’re making.
4. Learn from your mistakes
We all make mistakes because were human. Human error is inevitable, and it's important that when mistakes do happen, take the opportunity to learn from them. Make notes of the errors and consider what could be done differently to avoid it happening again. This is a great method of reflection and development to try with your colleagues.
For more tips on developing in your nursing career, read our list of top skills and qualities needed to be a great community nurse.
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