Daily nursing duties

NURSES

Please give me a little insight on what you do daily on your placements . Interested as I am thinking of starting my degree age 39 . Yikes !!

Reply 1

Littleemma98

Original post by rachycee

NURSES
Please give me a little insight on what you do daily on your placements . Interested as I am thinking of starting my degree age 39 . Yikes !!

You'll usually sit in on the handover from either day shift or Nightshift ( depending on what shift you are doing).
Then you'll be allocated a certain number of patients that you'll have to do there observations ( blood pressure and temperature etc) and note these down

Assist with changing beds
Assist with bathing any patients that requires assistance
Assist with handing out breakfast, lunch, tea ( dinner) ,
if on Nightshift you'll do supper only .
Maybe assist the qualified nurse on medication round
Taking patients perhaps down to x-ray or operating theatres.
Unfortunately you'll have to deal with patients who are sick, or toilet themselves as part of the patient personal care.

Those are just a few things you'll do on a daily basis but there's more than this you do.

Keep a pocket notepad in your uniform pocket for taking down notes on what you have done during your shift when you get a chance to do so.

Keep all your notes together as eventually they will form part of your essays, assignments and exams over your duration of your nursing degree.

Don't be panicking about you stating nursing at 39 ok because you'll probably have students that are older than yourself and yes lot younger than you as well.... The younger ones generally struggle compared to the more matured ones.

I'm a youngish newly qualified adult nurse ( summer 2023 qualified). I found it probably more easier than others because I went straight from qualifying as a veterinary nurse straight back to university for nursing ( I always wanted to be a adult nurse) .

Best of luck with your nursing when you finally start 😊 😊 😊

Reply 2

ErasistratusV

The answer is virtually anything and everything. A lot of nurses are very highly trained and they might let you shadow them- ask.

Be wary of anything involving medicines or anything similarly prescribed. When a nurse is administering these they should be not be disturbed as it increases the risk of an error. I'd include things like IV fluids and supplemental oxygen in this also. Learn by all means but seek supervision and guidance if you are involved in using them.

The nature of nursing very much depends on where you are placed at the time. Some wards or departments are sort of 'relaxed': 6 hourly observations, patients who are otherwise on the mend, greater emphasis on good old fashioned care. Others contain acutely unwell patients who will require lots of nursing input almost around the clock. If you get the chance, resus or critical care will show you the absolute peak of the nursing art and profession. If you can manage working in those places, you will thrive anywhere.

A lot of nursing tasks are best learned by repetition. I do not think there is much substitute for this really so when you are on placement get stuck in with both hands. Ask if there is any supplementary training on offer in your hospital- I was amazed to learn that not all nurses qualify whilst being trained to perform venepuncture, cannulation or place catheters- these are all standard fare in my view and a portion of HCAs can do these so surely nurses should at least know how to do them also.

Reply 3

Emily_B

Original post by rachycee

NURSES
Please give me a little insight on what you do daily on your placements . Interested as I am thinking of starting my degree age 39 . Yikes !!

Registered nurse of 5 years here. My day shift on a busy surgical ward looks like this:

I take handover for my patients at 730am.
I do 3 medication rounds at 8am, midday, and 530pm. Morning IV medications are usually done by night staff before day shift start, but then day staff need to do midday and early evening ones.
I do my morning obs alongside medication rounds. I'll re-do any obs as necissary and escalate any concerns - using this system NHS England » National Early Warning Score (NEWS)
HCA gives out meals, and between us we help the patients who need it with feeding and personal care.
Ward round happens, usually before lunchtime. Tasks from that get completed over the course of the day.
Any dressings that need changing get done - sometimes by me, sometimes by specialist tissue viability nurses.
Any patients going to theatre do so - usually any time between 830am and 3pm, returning any time from 1pm depending on what operation they're having - so need post op care.
Discharges get organised - liaising with pharmacy for prescription, sorting any dressings and referrals to district nurses or practice nurses, sorting out transport home.
Updating relatives and dealing with the ward phone that literally doesn't stop ringing between 6am and 10pm.
Documentation is really important - and can take a while to complete!
I finally hand back over to night staff at 8pm.