Describe the data collection method used, including an explanation of what you measured and how. Be specific.

I chose to do my data collection tallying my hours worked each day for 4 weeks. I connected with my director to come up with different tools to use each week but adding them to the previous tools utilized each week. Week 1, I continued to work without any adjustment, to document my hours accordingly, so I could see what I kind of hours I was working over my 40.

The 2nd week I began to make a list of tasks each morning to organize my day and attempt to plan out my schedule. I was still working past my 40 hours, but I could see some progress. By noting some of the tasks and estimating how long they would take. This way, if it was 4pm and I am supposed to leave by 430pm, I would leave tasks that I estimated would take longer than 30-45 minutes for the next day. I recognized the need to have more consistent alarms, the need to take into account my start time and not just my end of shift times. There are some shifts that as a nurse, you can get sucked into a situation at the bedside, and my hours needed to give and take a little.

The 3rd week, I continued to note my tasks for my day and the estimated times, but I added an alarm on my phone for the time I was supposed to leave. My time improved, but still not at 40 hours. But I can say that my hours were improving. I realized that I needed to set my alarm to go off daily during the week, so that I did not need to reset it. I also moved around some of my agenda items for my days and went into work later, so that I could stay later on some evenings and not be exhausting myself and my hours. I noticed that my hours were stacking up and so when I was able to leave “early” in a shift, I did. To try and save some of my sanity and improve that balance.

The 4th week, I continued to do everything from the third week, but I added more alarms to my day. I set an alarm for the estimated time of my tasks. This gave me a heads up on if I was taking too long or placing too much focus on a task that was “dead in the water”. This allowed me to complete more tasks in a timely manner. I also set a 15-minute alarm for 415pm, as my que to make sure that I was finishing up my tasks with only 15 minutes left of my day. Then my final alarm went off at 430. Project Knowledge Within the Nursing Workplace Assignment

Each Friday I would add a tool for my next work week. To see if this would improve my ability to leave work closer to my 40 hours.

Through the 4 weeks, I was able to improve my work life balance, and was arriving home with the ability to join my family for dinner in the last 1.5 weeks. I was able to increase my time with my husband and children and increase my joy of my career.