 Hi guys, so welcome to this day in the life of a nurse routine I'm gonna kind of show you guys and bring you guys along with me to talk about my day as an ICU nurse so first of all, I can have a 550 and I just put a little bit of makeup on you a little dry shampoo brush my teeth Nothing fancy. I like to shower at night. So Honestly, it takes me like five minutes to get ready in the morning And yes, I'm weird and use mascara to fill in my eyebrows Next I make my coffee and eat my breakfast and I'm currently a mom to five month old So I have to pump in the morning before work Okay, I just pulled up to work. I've got a couple minutes So I wanted to come on before my shift and kind of talk a little bit about a couple of different tips For your shifts and some common questions that people always ask me So first I am an ICU nurse if you don't know I work 7 a.m. To 7 30 p.m A lot of people ask me like how do you like mentally and physically prepare for your shifts? and one thing I would like to recommend is always pack a good lunch and good snacks because if There's nothing good about your day at least you have something to look forward to to eat if you get a lunch and Always pack a good drink. So I have my coffee some people prefer water tea, whatever it is It's just like a little something special to kind of like make you feel good about your shift Like I love getting rapport and like having like my warm coffee to drink and it kind of wakes me up next question I get a lot is about being an ICU nurse and the how I like Just learn all of that information all that stuff because there's so much stuff about being an ICU nurse and just a nurse in general There's just so much to learn and my best recommendation is to always just be looking things up and Learning so I can't tell you the last shift that I went where I did not look something up either during my shift Or went home and looked up something after and the other thing that I've done is I got my CCRN Which is my critical care registered nurse certification basically it just says that you're proficient in ICU Stuff and this was a big accomplishment for me because it helped really just test my knowledge base And I think that's one of the best things you can do when you are a nurse is Constantly be testing yourself and growing yourself this video is in collaboration with board vitals I love board vitals as a resource to continuously test your knowledge They have tons of medical question banks a lot of them are for nurses like they have one for the NCLEX to prepare you for the NCLEX they have one for CCRN and These questions are constantly being updated so that way they are most current and the best up-to-date knowledge I wish I would have known about board vitals before my CCRN because honestly I love their style of their question banks because you can go on and select how many questions you want the Categories like the types of questions and you can do as many or as little as you want and it's very very affordable So I will leave a link for board vitals in the description below and also use my promo code to save you a little bit of money My next tip is about pre-shift anxiety a lot of people message me and say oh, I'm so anxious before my shifts I'm so anxious before clinicals. I just feel like I can't concentrate because I'm so so anxious or I'm not sleeping well and This is totally a normal feeling Especially when you're a new grad or you're in nursing school to be anxious because it's just the fear of the unknown You don't know what to expect So one piece of advice that I have is one know that it's normal and it's going to get better each shift Two is you know more than you think you know so don't sell yourself short Don't doubt yourself You've got a lot of knowledge in your brain that you probably don't even realize is there The next thing is just take a deep breath and relax listen to music I like to listen to podcasts on my way to work drink your coffee and just know you're gonna get through it You always have support around you and you can always ask questions You are never going to be alone when you are a nurse and so know that you're always going to have that support anyways I'm gonna go into work now and clock in and get report I just checking in I am on my first break and I am pumping right now because Mom life work life nurse life whatever so sorry if you hear that in the background So I'm just taking my quick little break for this job. We get to 15 minute breaks and then our 30 minute lunch and It's so important to try and take advantage of those if you can because we're so busy as nurses We deserve breaks. I mean if you think about it in a 12 and a half hour period That's one hour total of like your breaks and very rarely do nurses take their 15 minute breaks So pumping has forced me to take them which has actually been really nice But on this break I try to get a little snack drink a bunch of water because it's so easy to get to hydrate it Throughout your shift when you're running around. I have a good assignment this morning knock on wood I don't want to say it, but it's generally pretty low key I got my assessments done my morning meds past They did my morning charting got my patients all cleaned up and ready for the day I like to just get them all like I see you pretty at the beginning so to speak big They're fully cares done. They're oral cares done. So that way the rest of the day. I Know my patients. I know what's going on and my rooms are tidied up So I know what supplies I have and what I don't so that is my little update I will update you guys on my lunch break with how my day is going and we'll talk a little more Okay, it's like 12 30, which is nice because it means the day is almost halfway over I'm pumping again. Obviously you can probably hear it and The day is going really well Knock on wood again. I don't want to jinx it But I actually got to go outside for a little bit because one of my patients want to go on a walk So I was able to take them on a walk. Honestly, it's been pretty not eventful So I'm just pumping really quick, but I'm gonna warm up my food and take my lunch break Like I said having something to look forward to to eat during your shift is always helpful If maybe you're not in the mood to go to work or you just want something to spice up your day I have leftover pee up chains. So I'm super excited about that But usually around noon to 12 30. I've finished with my second assessment. I Have done my blood sugar checks. I have charted everything given any medications And my next assessment is at four and so after that I will check in with you guys again Cuz I have to pump again and I'll let you know how the rest of my day is going. Okay I'm back in my favorite spot and it is almost 4 30 some day my last pumping session and This afternoon has gone by pretty quickly. I've just been like steadily busy with things nothing too crazy again knock on wood you never say the cue word or anything so At this time is when I start really looking at The end of this shift as far as like is there any tubing that needs to change be changed That's gonna expire overnight shift any the suction canisters do they need changed? Anything that is just good for 24 hours cannot change be changed out So that way when night shift comes in it's like a fresh start. They don't have to change everything right off the bat I also like to make sure that about 5 6 p.m. I get my patients sheets all straightened underneath them So that way They're just nice and clean it for when night shift comes on It's hard when you come on and like the beds a mess the rooms a mess It just starts you off on the wrong foot. I feel like at least so I like to make sure things are tidy in the morning And then tidy up at the end make sure there's no Orders that need to be clarified as far as out for overnight so that way when the night shift nurse comes on They're not like oh well am I gonna have to call this doctor Because all kind of squared away as best as possible obviously every patient in situations different So I basically have all my charting done for the day minus like my hourly eyes and O's And like my last ADL's assessment and charting But other than that things are pretty much kind of squared away I also will make sure at the end of my shift that like my Foley's all emptied The suction canister is marked off Any drains are drained out. So that way we can the night shift again comes on starts fresh and Can start over with their hourly eyes and O checks. So that's kind of my little bit of Insight or ICU advice Otherwise, I will check in with you guys at the end of my shift to let you know how it went and how report went Okay, guys, I know I look kind of spooky right now. I'm actually home I just pulled in the driveway and it's only like 733 I got off a little bit early because the same night shift nurse was back So report was like really quick, which is my favorite like one of the happiest things one of that ways to make me the happiest in the morning is By saying that the night shift nurse is back again. So I can give a quick report Anyways a shift and it's fine Nothing crazy happened today. I could finally say it. It was a chill easy ICU day And it's nice to have those days every once in a while, but I'm home now. I'm gonna eat some dinner I'm gonna shower I always take my scrubs off in the garage and and put them right in the laundry Take my shoes off in the garage because you just never know what you're exposed to in the hospital and then I take a shower right away eat and Relax and go to bed because it's a long day. Even if it's an easy shift You're still like mentally always on edge in the ICU. We're always preparing for worst-case scenario. So Anyways, I'm gonna go ahead and end this day in the life of a nurse video Remember to check out board vitals. They will be linked down in the description below check out their CCRN questions Check out their NCLEX questions and all the other great question banks. They have one there I trust me you guys are gonna love it And if you have any other questions or like this video, give me a comment Give this video a thumbs up and I'll see you guys in my next video. Bye