With the continuous growing gap between nurse patient ratios, nurses, are left with no choice but to multitask. They may be successful in performing all of the tasks during the shift but the quality of service may be compromised and even put the patient at risk.
Multitasking is known as doing two or three tasks at once, but in some cases, what nurses are doing sequential tasking. It is lining up a number of tasks in mind with no assurance that everything will be remembered in order. More complicated tasks take more time to be processed by the brain.
This means that not all tasks waiting to be done will be remembered at the same time that it needs to be completed. Several hours after the shift could be the time that jobs forgotten would suddenly turn up.
For nurses who regularly multitask or sequential task, the issue is not to improve these skills but to develop new ways on how put things into order without too much stress on the brain and do it in a systematic manner.
The following are some tips on how nurses can organize their daily tasks:
Make a list of tasks
Put all tasks on a list and cross them out as each one gets done. This way, duties are not forgotten and things are more organized. As long as it is listed, everything will surely get done and having an overview of all tasks will give an idea on how long it would take to get it completed and let the nurse manage his/her time better.
Do not interrupt
Studies have shown that nurses who are not interrupted during administering medications decreased the incidence of medication errors. If a nurse works without interruptions, they get their tasks done faster and they become more efficient because their attention is undivided.
Delegate tasks
Instead of trying to do everything, nurses should learn when to say no to a task and delegate simple and routine jobs to nursing assistants or technicians who are qualified to perform it. As long as the persons that the nurse delegates to are fit and able to perform the task, then there’s nothing wrong in asking for a little help. In delegating activities, the nurse, however, should keep in mind that only the task is delegated but not the accountability so it is important that the nurse educate the delegated individual to report anything that goes wrong.
Concentrate on the task at hand
As was said in the studies mentioned earlier, shifts in focus results to more lost time. Instead of thinking of the next task while doing one, nurses should know to keep concentrating on what they are doing at the moment and think of the next task later. This way, they wouldn’t have the feeling that they are always on the rush and the quality of their work is better because they are more focused.
