Resources >> Browse Articles >> On the Job
10 Worst Time Wasters at Work
Tania Khadder | NursingLink
Culprit #2: Over-Reliance on Email
We’ve all become addicted to email as a form of communication. It’s convenient. It’s also a great way to keep an electronic trail of your correspondence (helpful if you’re ever challenged on a decision or occurrence). But a lot of time is wasted on back and forth emails that would be more easily resolved as a verbal conversation. Don’t even get me started on the oh-so-common “reply-to-all” debacle.
The solution: If there’s something that needs to be discussed, opt for a face-to-face conversation. Is the person you need to speak to on the other coast? Call them. And if you still want a written record, write up a quick email after the conversation outlining where things left off and send to all relevant parties. On the surface it seems like more steps, but it can mean the difference between an hour of work and a two-day back and forth email discussion.
kimmyrn
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
None of these times wasters are appropriate for this bedside RN, being continuously "poked" re: OT because of charting after next shift arrives to care for the patients. When I sit @ the computer to chart during shift, I am usually interupted by call light, pt. family, co-worker requiring assistance, phone calls on the portable phone, etc. This is what I deal with every shift of work. Not meetings, never personal emails, not IM, not cig break.
jfpatter
almost 2 years ago
6 comments
This is a wonderful article! I have worked at the bedside and away from it. The stress, burnout and turnover in the nursing profession can be generated by the work practices and attitudes of individual staff. Thank you.
deegrimmett
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
Who are these people. I run my entire shift, eat on the go, and rarely get a potty break. I haven't had a real, not working, lunch break in 20 years. Bedside care is WORK. and shifts are demanding. This article was a complete waste of my time.
woosy1313
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
The article is useless to the majority of nurses who provide bedside patient care. A total waste of my time.
saturley2000
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
Not a good article for anyone who see patients. Reading it, wasted some of my day off.
vicmcd
almost 2 years ago
8 comments
This is completely a waste of time. What nurse... actual patient care person, has time for any of this? This article however does point to a growing problem in nursing, everybody wants to be a manager or office person, WHO is going to take care of the patients? NO ONE, that's who. Unless you think about the over worked, under paid LPN's who do actual assessments, away from the desk. But they are not "actually" nurses are they?
NurseT2009
almost 2 years ago
10 comments
Yeah this is NOT for bedside nursing!!! None of this applies.
mrsclaus1
almost 2 years ago
4 comments
This article does not related to bedside nursing at all!
Lilywhiteazz
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
I do not agree with this list AT ALL unless you are management. NO ONE has time to be doing all the online stuff this warns against. Who has time to check email that often? if it is work email, i check it at the beginning of my shift and later that day MAYBE. Urgent email? Hardly. If it is urgent someone will be giving you a call.