What Every Nurse Needs to Do Their Job Well

What Every Nurse Needs to Do Their Job Well

What every nurse needs in order to do their job well is to understand the expectations that the facility is asking of them. Without those being set, a nurse can’t stay focused. This is a distraction from doing their job to the best of their ability. Which — in turn — can result in patient care levels to go down.
The main things nurses need to know about their daily or nightly duties are, what patients or areas they are assigned to, and who to report to.

Understanding Your Shift

In order to be able to provide the best and proper care, what every nurse needs to understand is what the details of their shift or role are. A typical shift for a nurse might look something like this:

• Wake up, eat, and prepare for the day
• Arrive at the facility and converse with the previous shift to find out:
  • If any changes have been made in a patient’s status
  • If there are any new admissions to be made aware of
  • If there are any patient discharges for the day
  • Any other usual information for the shift— reading up on the patients, physician notes, and reviewing assignments

From there, a nurse may begin their rounds and — depending on what time of day it is — assist in activities of daily living, med passes, and assisting in meal times. This is also when a nurse begins charting, and possibly when they can sneak away to get a bite to eat.

After this is done, the next wave of rounds begins — and this can include changing of patients. Newly admitted patients may already be discharged. New patients have arrived, and the other patients that are staying still need assistance. More charting is done.

As a nurse does their final rounds and charting, they prepare the incoming shifts on what they need to know. Once the nurse has passed off their duties, it is time to go home and get some rest.

Knowing the Structure of the Department

As we just covered, a nurse has many things they need to keep track of daily. In order to maintain accurate reporting, every nurse needs to know the structure of the department.

The organizational structure of the department, or hierarchy, is imperative to maintaining an efficient workflow. Without it, a nurse will not know the chain of command which indicates who to report to, how tasks are allocated, and who the acting supervisor is.

A Nursing Hierarchy might look like this:

• Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) or Chief Nursing Executive
• Director of Nursing
• Nurse Manager or Nurse Supervisor
• Nurse Practitioner (CRNP)
• Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN)
• Staff Nurse or Bedside Nurse
• Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) and Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN)

A nurse who does not follow this chain of command could be putting other’s lives in jeopardy. If a nurse does not follow the organizational structure, they could lose their license in the event a patient receives inadequate care which in rare cases could be deadly.

Knowing Your Way Around a Facility

With so much going on at a facility — the last thing a nurse wants to do is be searching for supplies or information when they need it fast during their shift.

For a high-level of patient care, knowing where everything is and who everyone is could be the difference in someone’s life.

Typically, a nurse who gets hired at a facility will receive all of this information during the onboarding process, making their jobs easier than say a travel nurse or per diem nurse. But, what about nurses that get hired by a staffing agency?

Getting Facility Information Upfront

With all of this in mind, a nurse may be wary about leaving a facility they are comfortable at in order to go work somewhere else. The great news is — there’s no need to be!

NurseDash informs the nurse of all facility information upfront so they know exactly what they are doing and where they are going when they get there.

Nurses who come from the NurseDash platform are better prepared for their daily duties and jobs than nurses from other staffing agency platforms.

They know all the details ahead of time. Therefore, when this nurse arrives on the job, they know exactly where they need to go and when.

NurseDash gathers required onboarding information and then processes and approves users. The more specific information of a shift — a facility will put that in the job posting section description. If a nurse has more questions or needs additional clarification they can chat directly with the facility on the app.