NR 351 Week 1 Discussion: Time Management as an Online Student (Graded)
This week has allowed me to reflect on my time management skills. I was able to reflect on how the nursing skills I have gained through out the years are applicable to my daily life. Particularly the way I manage stress and anxiety in my personal life, is very similar to the way I manage stress and anxiety at work. I believe that time management with good results, start with the understanding of realistic expectations and planning. Almost everything that has to do with nursing is, knowledge or information, expectations, action, and assessing.
Simply addressing step one of patient centered care, is knowledge and understanding. (pg. 10). I believe this is the first step to be successful in all areas of life.
I look forward to getting to learn more knowledge not only about myself of but what getting my BSN has to offer. Particularly because I have put it of for so long, thinking it will really not serve me any purpose in my patient care as an ER Nurse. So I do truly hope for more growth that I can implement in my practice of emergency medicine.
Massachusetts Nurse of the Future Nursing Core Competencies© Registered Nurse
As a nurse who works full time, I feel as though most hours of my day are spent at the hospital. If I am not at the hospital, I may have to be if needed. Sometimes I feel as though I see my coworkers more than my own family. I work four ten-hour days, but being in a procedural unit, I work until the cases are complete. The opposite is true as well, if there are no cases I may not work at all.
When applying my weekly schedule into the time management tool, my suspicions were confirmed, I need to quit my job. Just kidding, my husband would never allow this. All joking aside, I do work a lot of hours. When I return from work it is time to make dinner, spend time with my real family, and just unwind. I am usually in bed around ten or eleven pm, and up at five am. The unpredictable part of my life is being on call. Unfortunately, No one can change the time a patient has a heart attack, and they become the main priority when that happens.
Although my life is greatly encompassed with work responsibilities, I feel like I will be able to carve the needed time out of my days to be successful with this endeavor. Karakashian and Wooten (2019) claim that the ability to utilize time management skills will yield the prioritization of goals for the patients we care for in a timely fashion and minimize stress, anxiety, and mistakes. These skills that we all use every day with the patients we care for can easily be translated into our everyday life to achieve enough time, which in turn will decrease our stress, anxiety, and mistakes.
I would like to be able to leave work in a timely manner, and myself and my coworkers have addressed this concern with our manager and director who are trying to make positive changes to the flow of our department. I have also talked to my manager about hiring more staff which would lessen our call burden and making my work/life/school balance a little more reasonable. My family will also be able to help more with meals and housework, which in turn will free up time as well.
I know that school will be an adjustment not only for myself and my family, but for all of us who are starting. I also feel that once adjusted, the prioritization will become second nature, just like when we are caring for our patients.
References
Karakashian, A.L., & Woten, M. (2019). Time management skills: Implementing.
Cinahl nursing guide: EBSCO publishing: T902465.
Upon completing the time management tool, most of my time is spent at work or in class and doing homework. This is honestly exactly as I expected. With working a Monday-Friday job, and taking evening/weekend classes for my ADN program, I expected that most of my time is dedicated to the two items.
I do believe that I have pretty good time management skills since I am coordinating my work schedule, school schedule and home life. According to the International Journal of Caring Sciences, “Good time management benefits in several ways including greater productivity, less stress, improved efficiency, more opportunities for professional advancement and greater opportunities to achieve career and life goals. (Nayak, 2018)”. I agree with this article because I noticed a reduction in stress and an increase in efficiency when I take the time to write out in my planner what my week entails rather than figuring it out day by day. This has been working very well for me in my ADN program and I have been able to get the required course work done on time.
One thing that I would like to change is the amount of time that I take for myself to recharge. In this week’s lesson it states, “Organization and time management are all about balance. No, you don’t need to fill every minute of every day. Sleep and self-care renew your energy and let you be more effective in your other activities (Chamberlain, 2021).” I recognize that I do not get an adequate amount of sleep and I am hoping that this summer will help me set a schedule that will be maintainable during the rest of my school career. I think that by having the flexible schedule that Chamberlain allows will help to find a balance between working, school, and self-care.
Nayak, S. G. N. (2018). Time Management in Nursing — Hour of need. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 11(3), 1997–2000. https://web-a-ebscohost-com.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=16&sid=1d7070cc-458d-484f-b24a-5938bd716b6c%40sessionmgr4007
Chamberlain, C. U. (2021). Week 1 Lesson: Success Strategies for the Returning Student. Chamberlain. https://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/80513/pages/week-1-lesson-success-strategies-for-the-returning-student?module_item_id=11797916