Page 205 - Saunders Comprehensive Review For NCLEX-RN

7. Delegate tasks when appropriate.
8. Keep a daily hour-by-hour log to assist in providing
structure to the tasks that must be accomplished, and
cross tasks off the list as they are accomplished.
9. Use health care agency resources wisely, anticipating
resource needs, and gather the necessary supplies
before beginning the task.
10. Organize paperwork and continuously document task
completion and necessary client data throughout the
day (i.e., documentation should be concurrent with
completion of a task or observation of pertinent client
data).
11. At the end of the day, evaluate the effectiveness of
time management.

XVII. Prioritizing Care

A. Prioritizing is deciding which needs or problems require
immediate action and which ones could tolerate a delay in
response until a later time because they are not urgent.
B. Guidelines for prioritizing (Box 7-10)
C. Setting priorities for client teaching
1. Determine the client’s immediate learning needs.
2. Identify the type of learning needs for the individual;
for example, consider the client’s age, cognitive age,
language needs, and generational concerns.
3. Review the learning objectives established for the
client.
4. Determine what the client perceives as important.
5. Assess the client’s anxiety level and the time available
to teach.
D. Prioritizing when caring for a group of clients
1. Identify the problems of each client.
2. Review the problems and any nursing diagnoses.
3. Determine which client problems are most urgent
based on basic needs, the client’s changing or
unstable status, and complexity of the client’s
problems.
4. Anticipate the time that it may take to care for the
priority needs of the clients.
5. Combine activities, if possible, to resolve more than
one problem at a time.
6. Involve the client in his or her care as much as possible
(see Priority Nursing Actions).

Use the ABCs—airway, breathing, and circulation—Maslow’s

Hierarchy of Needs theory, and the steps of the nursing process

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