Tips For Acing Your Shift As An Agency Nurse Or Carer

Tips For Acing Your Shift As An Agency Nurse Or Carer

As a Nurse or Carer in a Nursing Agency, you’ll often find yourself facing various tasks and situations – some you’ll be comfortable with, some you may not. However, no matter the challenge, I’m sure you want to achieve impressive results.

So, here are some quick tips you can use, to make sure you ace your shift!

Arrive Early For Your Shift

Start as you mean to go on, and get there early!

Arriving late for any job is always a bad way to start the day. If you’re planning to get there just before your shift starts, your fate is in the hands of the Gods. No matter how well you have planned your route, or how many times you’ve made it there on time, it just takes one slow car, or even forgetting your ID badge, to set this perfectly timed routine into rushed chaos!

You’ll find yourself constantly trying to make up for the lost time and speeding through your jobs. In a role that requires care and attention, this is a recipe for disaster!

It might not sound particularly inviting, but the best solution is to always aim to be at your assigned job at least 15 minutes before it is meant to start.

If your job starts at 10 am, and it takes you 15 minutes to get there, we’d fully recommend setting off at 9.30 am. You just don’t know what’s waiting for you on the journey!

Not only does this mean you won’t be stressing yourself out, but you will also make a fantastic first impression for the day – something that is always important. Even if you’ve been to the Home before, how you start your shift can often influence your manager’s opinion.

Pre-Plan Your Route

Working for a Nursing Agency, like Medilink Nursing, means that you may be visiting Residential and Nursing Homes that you’ve never been to before. So, rather than waiting until the day of the shift to plan your route, check a couple of days before, unless of course, it’s a short notice shift (then you may need to rely on time travel!)

Even if you think you have an idea of where it is, it’s better to be safe, rather than sorry!

This tip is especially important if you rely on public transport. We all know what buses are like… If you are needing more than one bus/train/tram etc. to get to work, then it may be best to take the earlier one, just to make sure you don’t miss your only chance of getting to work on time.

It goes without saying, but Google Maps is excellent for planning!

Use Live Transport Trackers

Speaking of public transport and its reliability, rather than relying on a timetable that doesn’t update and give the latest times, you can keep up-to-date using a live tracker!

These are a fantastic way of ensuring you don’t miss your bus/train because it’s speeding along, or if it’s doing its best impression of a snail. A live tracker will provide you with real-time information, such as how long it is going to take to get to your stop, as well as if there’s any space on it for you.

Isn’t it horrible waiting for 20 minutes for a bus to turn up that has no free space…

So, where can you find these live public transport trackers? Here are a few handy ones to keep in mind, and many have an app! Simply click on the name to take you to their page (don’t worry, you won’t lose this blog!)

• Your Next Bus – West Yorkshire Metro
• First Bus
• The Trainline

Get Familiar With The Home’s Record-Keeping Procedure

Since you’re getting to work with an extra 15 minutes or so to spare, why not get familiar with the record-keeping procedures?

I’m sure you’re well-prepared for record-keeping (if not, we have a Record-Keeping Training Course soon to be available), but every Home is different and has different requirements on how you need to record incidents and procedures. Whilst the majority of homes you’ve worked at my follow the same (or similar) procedures, the next place you work for may not.

This will most likely be included in your shift handover, but if not, It only takes a few minutes to ask and read over them, and it could save you a lot of hassle in the future! If something is recorded incorrectly, it can cause a lot of trouble to yourself, the home, and the individual who was involved.

Don’t take any risks – just make sure you do everything by the book.

Make Note of Responsibilities

It’s not always easy to remember every responsibility you’ve been given. New home, new roles, and on top of that, you have to remember where everything is around the place!

As Rag ‘n’ Bone Man once said, “I’m only human after all” – unless you’re a robot, no one would realistically expect you to remember everything.

So, I would recommend that you make a few notes of what you’re expected to do on your shift. These notes will help remind you, of what you need to do, ensuring you carry out your duties properly and also making sure that those under your patients or residents get the care they deserve!

And I can’t stress this enough – if you’re not sure on something, just ask! No-one will be upset that you want to make sure you’re doing everything you’re supposed to.

End Of The Shift

As we mentioned in our Mental Health Guide blog, once your shift is done, it’s done! I know it can be hard, but try your best to leave any events that happened back at the Home – you’ve worked hard today, now it’s your turn to look after yourself.

Get home, unwind, and rest your body, as well as your mind!

What other tips do you have for fellow Nurses and Carers to help them ace every shift, including their first day as a carer?

We’d love to hear and will be keeping an eye out on the comments section below. We’ll also include any in our next tips blog – so keep an eye out!