Tips to Become An Efficient Nurse

Illness doesn’t spare any of us. At least one member of the family each year gets admitted due to certain illness, and the dreadful predicament causes emotional and financial drain. Being in a family of health practitioners, we go hand in hand to support each other to achieve wellness.

For each of family members’ hospital stay, I have observed different types of bedside nursing care. Some of which are so-so but others don’t possess the passion for their work. If you are in the same profession as I am you know very well what I mean.

 

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Let me share with you few tips on how to become an effective bedside nurse:

• Know your patient. Before every shift, it is best to read your assigned patient’s chart cover to cover. You have to know who your patient is as well as their attending doctors. This way, you will know how to properly deal with your patient and also be able to collaborate care among their family members and the attending doctors.
• Learn what and what not to say. Practice the art of therapeutic communication because you can never go wrong with it. Before you utter any word, you should assess your thoughts because patients are quite keen with what we tell them. You should also learn how to speak words to the level of their understanding and choose the right words to effective communication. Some find it hard to do this but the key is—empathy.
• Organize your patient care. Before you go into your patients’ rooms, you have to plot your patient care for the day so you will prevent delays in medication and other patient care (procedures). You may also involve their family members especially if it is long term care. This also prevents burn out on your part.
• Seek help. When you organize patient care, it is best that you delegate certain procedures (bed bath) respectively. You inform nursing aides/orderlies ahead of time and seek for their help when needed. When you are in doubt of your confidence of a certain procedure it is best that you seek help based on your assessment and critical judgment on the situation.
• Ensure proper collaboration. When patients have a procedure that needs to be done, it is best that you make proper endorsements to the respective departments. If problem arises, you are the first hand health provider that is responsible for an unsatisfactory procedure.

That's it. Hope this will be helpful to you my fellow nurse. Do you have any additional tips? Share your thoughts.