Routines keep us sane and safe. (Hat tip to the Heath brothers for teaching me that in their book, Switch, which I recommended last summer.) Often times we crave routines. Other times we need our routines to be shaken.

We all have routines of varying lengths and importance running throughout our personal and professional lives – the order in which we get dressed, the morning commute, nurses’ head-to-toe assessments, the kids’ bedtime, prepping meds for administration. I recognize my own idiosyncratic routines throughout the week – like the way I read through/tear apart magazines and journals or printing my weekly color-coded calendar on Friday before I leave for the weekend – but it seems like my routines go into over-drive on Sunday as I prep for the upcoming week. Going through the mental list…check, got that, yep, check.

What about you? What are some of your favorite, weirdest, or most-needing-change nursing routines?