New Nurse Time Management Tips

12 August 2025


New Nurse Time Management Tips



New nurse time management tips and advice: I will discuss some new nurse tips and tricks for time management you can use as a new nurse. Many new nurses struggle with time management issues during the first six months on the job. The reason is because most new nurse graduates are trying to develop a nursing routine that works for them while trying to learn how to be a nurse.

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It can be overwhelming for the new nurse and they may find themselves feeling like you don't have enough time to get their job done. Some signs and symptoms of time management issues can include: rushing to get everything done at the end of the shift, forgetting to complete tasks, clocking out late all the time, never getting breaks, always needing help, and feeling so overwhelmed with the job that you want to quit. Some tips to help you become better with time management include: asking the right questions in report, creating a sheet to help you keep track of your day, set goals of when things should be completed, try to streamline medication administration times, take it hour-by-hour and don't think about it all at once, and know that experience helps with time management. Don't forget to check out my video on how to deal with new nurse anxiety.

New Nurse Anxiety Tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArmHjlaCGsE

Article on Time Management: https://www.registerednursern.com/time-management-tips-for-new-nurses

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

#Nurse #Time #Management #Tips

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23 Comments
  1. Two months in and I feel like giving up but I have to remind myself that it’s all very new to me and that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ getting better day by day but man… this is harder than I thought it would be 😢

  2. I’ve never been able to get this down. I really knew what I’m doing wrong

  3. Not me having all of the issues listed in the beginning 😂. Just got off orientation and it’s tough.

  4. Thank you for all the tips. It helps a lot

  5. Well thought the last id see of sarah was when i was in nursing school – i was wrong

  6. I will definitely be using these tips. Thank you for this video

  7. NEW ER nurse it gets getter

  8. have been binge watching your vids before getting into position and it sooooothes so much of the anxietythank you for your angelic deeds <3

  9. Thank you so much for all the teachings and for your selflessness

    Please could you show us some of the medical instruments and their usage

  10. I'm not a nurse yet. I'm watching your so I can be prepared going into the field.

  11. I am a first time traveler nurse for 14 years. I have adhd! Help! Lol

  12. Been working 2 and 1/2 yrs in private duty and STILL struggling with my charting! I have so much difficulty with getting back on task after being interrupted, and when you're in someone's house with their grandbaby (it's always the grandmas, lol), they see you pull out the tablet to chart and suddenly they have questions about things or maybe they just want to talk. But I can't talk and write at the same time. Plus it feels like I'm doing something wrong if I'm staring at a screen while my patient's abuela is talking to me.

  13. Teared up watching this! I’ve been working at a nursing home for a month now, and honestly it’s been so incredibly difficult. I have literally every single one of those signs of poor time management. It’s horrible. I often have to switch roles (med giving, charge nurse) because of poor staffing which makes an 8 hour shift a 12 hour one quite easily. I’m literally known as the nurse who takes forever. It sucks, especially because I have very little experience and try to tend to patient’s needs which aren’t always emergent (and I’ve learned the hard way). Everything takes me forever. Some one always needs to speak to me. I want to give up every day but watching this have me a spark of hope. Being a new nurse is no joke. This has been so far the most difficult, depressing month of my life. But… 🤷🏽‍♀️

  14. I love watching your videos. I must admit that I have never seen this one before it was assigned to me as part of a supplemental assignment to achieve our preceptorship hours we do not get due to the COVID-19 outbreak starting the week our preceptorships started. We are still on track to graduate in May and begin working this summer. This is a great video…I struggle with time management as a student, I can't even imagine how much harder it is as a baby nurse.

  15. New nurse here, currently struggling with this. I'm 2 months in and have been told I need to do my tasks faster. I feel like i'm moving fast but certain things take me longer not to mention abnormal bp's, high sugars, and other things I have to address in between. How long do you take to do your assessments? and med pass? I work nights and by the time report is done it's 7:30 then I have to do assessments, plan of care, and meds, this is the usual goal unless I have earlier meds before 10 or a new admission or discharge. I would appreciate any feedback! Thank you

  16. This video is too relatable

  17. I call the work sheet my work list, very helpful

  18. Your channel really helps me a lot to pass may Philippines Nursing Licensure exam. I really cant believe that i am here again but this time i am here to prepare na my self as i enter the real world. Thanks a lot mam

  19. Thanks Mam for upload such a meaningful video for us…!!!

  20. started nursing school with my favorite youtube nursing professor RegisteredNurseRN and now am looking for tips before I start my first nursing job!!! Thank you so much for these videos. Helped me ace exams and pass the NCLEX! I do hope you consider becoming a professor or something in the educational field. The BEST teacher hands down…. this compliment comes from a former teacher btw 😉

  21. Recent grad looking RN job ,nothing yet.

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