DON’T
- Get Distracted – Your phone is not your friend, especially if you’re a new nurse. It’s a huge source of temptation for distraction, and distraction is the enemy of good care. If you can’t trust yourself to use your phone responsibly, lock it up until the end of your shift.
- Ignore New Nurses – “Sink or swim” usually means just “sink” in the world of nursing if you refuse to help a new nurse with basic tasks.
Try to put yourself in his or her shoes – this job is tough for newcomers, and though you shouldn’t put yourself in a position where a new nurse relies on you entirely, a little kindness and help goes a long way toward developing a good relationship.
- Overload Yourself – You are not SuperNurse. You’re just – you. A good nurse, probably a great nurse! You can’t handle everything on your own.
Take breaks when you need to and when you can. Don’t take overtime if you don’t think you can handle it. Talk to your manager if you feel overworked. Ask your coworkers for help. Taking steps to make sure you don’t overload yourself with work means you’ll provide better care when you’re working, and maintain a healthier work/life balance.
- Gossip Or Say Negative Things About Coworkers – Do you want to destroy your positive work environment? If so, ignore this advice! Gossiping about coworkers or talking trash about their performance is one of the worst things you can do for your work environment.
Nurses talk. That means that if you say something negative, it will get around to the person you were talking about – and they’ll probably know who said it. Gossiping is never worth it, and can lead to poor team performance, cohesion and a toxic work environment. If someone is talking trash about a coworker, ask them to stop – or at least leave the room. Don’t join in.
Conclusion
These tips may seem deceptively simple, but these are some of the most important things you can do to encourage a healthy work-life balance, great work performance, and good team cohesion.
Just like everything else in nursing, the basics can be most important. So follow these do’s and don’ts, and see how these simple tips can help enhance your productivity, work-life balance, and job performance.
