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hey everyone it's s register nurse
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rn.com and in this video I'm going to be
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going over time management tips for new
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nurses in the previous video I went over
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new nurse anxiety and how to deal with
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it and today I want to cover time
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management because time management and
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new nurse anxiety go hand in hand
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because a lot of times new nurses will
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have anxiety over their time management
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skills now many new nurses struggle with
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time management but as they gain
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experience they become more efficient
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however you may notice even the most
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seasoned nurses may have an off day here
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or there if they're under staff maybe
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they're down a nurse or a nursing
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assistant and they struggle with time
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management that day just because of the
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extra workload now if you find yourself
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after about a year still struggling with
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time management you may want to sat down
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and analyze how you can improve and
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maybe have another nurse who has really
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good time management skills assess what
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you're doing right or wrong to help you
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improve on those so in this video I want
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to give you some tips on how to improve
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your time management during those
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12-hour shifts I know 12 hours seems
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like a long time to get a lot of things
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done but if you've ever worked a 12 hour
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shift you know that you have to use
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every hour efficiently so you can get
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out on time now some signs and symptoms
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that you may be struggling with time
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management are the following rushing to
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get everything done at the end of your
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shift or forgetting to complete Tas ask
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clocking outlay and getting those
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constant reminders from your manager
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that you're going into overtime and that
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you need to clock out on time or Never
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Getting breaks to eat use the bathroom
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or rest for more than 5 minutes always
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asking or needing help and O always
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feeling overwhelmed to the point you
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feel like quitting now let's look at our
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time management tips okay tip number one
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ask the right questions in report this
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is very important so you can start your
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day off right and eliminate any
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potential surprises that may pop up
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throughout the day because as nurses we
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don't like surprises okay so whenever
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you're getting report from that other
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nurse be sure to ask questions about if
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that patient's going to be going for any
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procedures if they may possibly be
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discharged if they have any time
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sensitive Labs like cardiac enzymes that
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need to be drawn or those special
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treatments like Wound Care Central Line
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dressing changes IV change outs tubing
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change outs any anything like that that
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you need to incorporate in your day as
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you go through your nursing routine and
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these tasks need to be planned out by
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you so you can dedicate a certain time
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to do them and you'll want to write
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these tasks out and times that you plan
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on doing them which leads me into my
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next Point create a sheet to help you
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keep track of your day this will help
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you organize how your day will flow you
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may notice that at first you will depend
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on this sheet a lot you may call it your
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brain you'll keep it in your scrub
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pocket but then as you gain experience
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and you've learned how the day will flow
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the routine set in you won't depend on
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this sheet of paper as much but whenever
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you're first starting out it's good to
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have so you can org organize how you're
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going to do things so I recommend this
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could be on your report sheet that you
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take information down about patience or
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it could be a completely different piece
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of paper whatever you want to do but try
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to include on it medication times when
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what patient at what time is going to
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have certain meds and um treatments that
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patient will need procedures for
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instance say that they're going for a
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thoracentesis at noon you need to write
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that down and also put I need to do
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pre-op checklist or was it already done
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that's something you can ask and report
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and you may need to get informed consent
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if that wasn't already done so that'll
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help you keep track of your little task
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and any doctor's orders that may be need
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to be
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completed throughout your shift and you
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can always jot them down and also this
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piece of paper is great for whenever
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you're taking verbal orders as well next
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is to set goals of when things should be
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completed one thing that really helped
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me was to set individual times of when
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something should be completed and as you
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have probably worked about a month and
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you get your routine down and you see
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how the flow is going you can do this
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for instance this is what I would do um
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at 7:00 I would make sure that I started
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rounding on my patients doing my um
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shift assessment and then uh by 9:30 my
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goal was to have all my shift
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assessments documented and completed and
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to be in that medication room pulling my
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10:00 meds and then after I pull my meds
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do my Med pass and then by
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11:30 be completed with my Med pass and
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use that as a time to catch up on
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documentation and to start complet
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comping physician orders that have came
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in because they like to round in the
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mornings and you start getting a whole
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slew of orders in and just setting those
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time goals for myself really helped me
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make my day flow more smoothly next tip
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is to try to streamline medication
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administration times as a nurse you were
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going to be giving a lot of medications
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that will really take up a lot of your
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day so um whenever you're doing your med
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passes you know only need to use that
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time as a time to give medications but
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to complete your task so group your
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tasks together so say um you're going to
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go see this patient they have a whole
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bunch of meds to give but they also need
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their IV changed out they need a bath
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they need their Linens changed and they
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need to get up to the bedside chair so
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what you need to do is give them their
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meds and do all that together so right
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there that patient is set for a little
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while and you can move on to your next
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patient so that really helps also Al a
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lot of times sometimes medications will
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be ordered at
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101 and it seems like you'll be giving
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medications every hour but some
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hospitals have um policies always check
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with your hospital policy where you can
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give the medication an hour before or an
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hour after it's due so you can sort of
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conglomerate those medications but of
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course you have to watch your time
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sensitive medications like antibiotics
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but those little things make the biggest
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difference just try to group your
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medications together as much as you can
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and use your medication passes as time
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to also get other tasks done in that
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patient room next tip take it hour by
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hour don't try to think about it all at
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once for instance say you just got
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report on a patient and you've written
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everything down that you have to do and
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you're looking at this and you're like
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how in the world am I going to get this
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done you know we're short staffed today
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how am I going to do this I've had those
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days what you have to do is you have to
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say I'm one person I'm going to try to
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do as best as I can and I'm going to
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take it hour by hour so you're going to
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say at 8 I'm going to try to get this
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done and by 9 hopefully I can get this
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done and um try to get the most
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important things done but remember this
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is a 24-hour facility P you have another
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nurse that if you didn't get something
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done hopefully they can help you so just
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don't get overwhelmed but just try to
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take it hour by hour and the last tip
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experience helps with time management
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most new nurses what really slows them
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down and affects their time management
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skills at first is just learning how to
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do those uh routine nursing skills for
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instance you know spiking an IV bag or
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priming an IV flesh or starting IV may
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take them a lot longer at first compared
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to um 6 months a year down the road so
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if it took them 15 minutes to start an
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IV before and now they have experience
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and they take it only takes them five
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they save a lot of time so if you are
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someone who's struggling with this
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you're a new nurse you're wondering how
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in the world am I ever going to get good
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at time management just know that as you
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keep doing these skills over and over
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every day you work you're getting better
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and better and you will be good with
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time management now if you are a nursing
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student who's watching this video and um
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it's going to be a while before you work
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as a nurse I really recommend that if
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you can to get a job as a nurse
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assistant because this will help you
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learn the flow of those um shifts you'll
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be working and just learning how to do
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your own skills that are required of you
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as a nursing assistant and will help you
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understand how the day will flow and um
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for me it helped me transition better
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working as a nursing assistant into that
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nursing role so if you can do that I
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think it would be great great experience
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for you and really help you with time
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management thank you so much for
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watching and please consider subscribing
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to this YouTube channel
