To meet the needs of assigned clients and the responsibilities associa

To meet the needs of assigned clients and the responsibilities associated with the position, nurses need to be aware of time management techniques. The time management skills for the nurse in-clude:

1. Meeting all of the client’s needs in the early morning hours
2. Anticipating possible interruptions by therapists and visitors
3. Leaving each day unplanned to allow for adaptations in treatments
4. Completing client assessments and treatments individually at separate times

ANSWER

ANS: 2
To manage time, the nurse must anticipate when care will be interrupted for medication admin-istration and any diagnostic testing, and the nurse should also determine the best time for planned therapies such as dressing changes, client education, and client ambulation. Meeting all the needs in the early morning hours would be unrealistic. Some activities have specific time lim-its in terms of addressing client needs and some activities follow scheduled routines according to hospital policy. The nurse may also have to work around other schedules, such as if the client had a test ordered for the morning. Therefore, the nurse cannot expect to meet all of the client’s needs at a specified time of day. Because the nurse has a limited amount of time with clients, it is essential to remain goal-oriented and make a plan for using time wisely. Time management in-volves using client goals as a way to identify priorities. The nurse in reviewing the care require-ments organizes his or her time so the activities of care and client goals can be achieved. A nurse should complete the activities started with one client before moving on to another.