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Top 5 Best Nursing Planners for Keeping Your Busy Schedule Organized
- From rotating shifts, to overtime pickups, to mandatory meetings and trainings, many nurses find themselves needing a sturdy planner to keep track of it all.
- Studies show there are many psychological benefits from using a planner regularly, to help balance work and personal obligations.
- Nursing CE Central evaluates the best nursing planners on the market, to help you conquer your busy days!
Morgan Curry, BSN / RN
Intensive Care, Outpatient Surgery, Aesthetics, Education, and Nursing Leadership
Nursing CE Central’s Top 5 Best Nursing Planners
1. Erin Condren Loving Care LifePlanner
This design was specifically created for healthcare workers and has several options for customization and add-ons! You can also personalize with different covers, pictures, and your name or monogram!
The Details:
• 7” x 9”
• 12 or 18–month option
• Mini months
• Monthly quotes, notes, and productivity pages
• Dated monthly, weekly spreads, additional notes in the back
• Contacts Page
• Sticker sheets
• Keep it together folder
• Snap–in ruler
I love this planner.
I owned this nursing planner during a very hectic time of my life. At the time, I was working as an ICU nurse, planning a wedding, and finishing up my second degree – there was so many moving parts going on at once!
Being the extremely organized person that I am, I needed this planner desperately and let me tell you, it brought me so much joy to have everything I needed all in the same place.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I got to change the front cover and replace it with my new last name and credentials once I got married and graduated!
Interested in getting your own Erin Condren planner? We have got you covered!
Make sure to use code “ECNURSES10” for $10 off your first purchase of $40 or more!
2. Plum Paper
Plum Paper lets you create your own planner from the ground up, with everything you need and nothing you don’t! With so many design and color options, your planner’s opportunities are endless. You can personalize layouts, the cover, adding your name, monogram and more!
The Details:
• Three different size options 5.8” x 8.3” 7”x9” and 8.5” x 11”
• Multiple Layout options including vertical, horizontal, monthly, daily, grid, student layouts, and financial planners
• Contacts and password pages
• Double–sided pocket
• Special dates, ideas, plans, and goals pages
Personally, I have never owned this planner, but many of my friends have – and they love it!
Since you get to customize every single aspect of your nursing planner, Plum Paper is a major contender for even the busiest nurses. Definitely give this one a look!
Shoot Plum Paper a quick email at [email protected] for 10% off your order!
“Hi Plum Paper, this email is to request my Nursing CE Central discount code for 10% off my upcoming purchase. Thanks, – Your Name”
3. StudentNursePlanner
This Etsy shop creates planners just for nurses, and even offers options for specific nursing specialties! An extra touch this shop adds with each nurse planner purchase is that you receive medical shears and a multi color click pen.
Whether you’re still in school or out in the field, this shop has a nursing planner here for you!
The Details:
• The “Student Nurse” planner has no dates, which gives you all the freedom to plan as you wish! Some of the features include:
– 12 monthly layouts
– Weekly tasks list
– Nursing core concepts, tips, weekly NCLEX practice questions, and a quick reference guide
– Habit tracking
– Monthly budgeting tools
– Coloring pages
– Life organization pages
• Their “Critical Care Nurse” planner offers both dated or no–date options. Additional features include:
• Advanced topics such as balloon pumps, LVADS< hemodynamics, sedation, CRRT, ARDS, and more!
• NCLEX–style questions tailored to critical care concepts
• All features included in the “Student Nurse” planner
Unfortunately for me, this one was not around when I was in nursing school or in my busy ICU days, but I would have loved to have it!
I highly recommend you check out this shop, as it is clear that the owner is passionate about helping nurses stay on top of things!
4. Erin Condren LifePlanner
This nursing planner is similar to the “Loving Care LifePlanner” at the top of our list and of course, the stethoscope design is perfect for nurses!
The Details:
• 7” x 9”
• 12 or 18 month option
• Mini months
• Monthly quotes, notes, and productivity pages
• Dated monthly, weekly spreads, additional notes in the back
• Contacts Page
• Sticker sheets
• Keep it together folder
• Snap in ruler
As I mentioned, this design is almost the exact same as the one we covered earlier, the only difference is that this one does not offer the same customizable cover options. However, you are still able to add your name, credentials, or monogram if you wish!
Interested in getting your own Erin Condren planner? We have got you covered!
Check them out here, and use code “ECNURSES10” for $10 off your first purchase of $40 or more!
5. Passion Planner
This company is a huge supporter of frontline workers!
Within the past few weeks, they concluded their annual community outreach giveaway, gifting hundreds of planners to healthcare workers! Be on the lookout for their next giveaway!
The Details:
• Planner includes:
– Write-in:
– “Good things that happened…”
– “Today’s focus”
– “Monthly reflection”
– “Passion Roadmap” — short- and long-term goal development
• Inspirational quotes and weekly challenges
• To–do lists for work and personal life activities
• Write-in: “Today’s focus”
• Blank pages for infinite possibilities – write, doodle, create, brainstorm, list.
This is a great planner for someone who needs daily motivation and wants to keep positivity at the forefront of their day.
Although it lacks visual customization options, it is a great option to help you set goals and intentions.
Benefits of Having a Nursing Planner
A clinical psychologist with Psychology Today, Barbara Markway, outlines several perks to keeping a daily planner that nurses would benefit from; these include:
- Reducing stress and anxiety
- Improving productivity
- Increasing creative expression
- Maintaining schedules
Since we have outlined the benefits, let’s break down some of the best nursing planners out there just for you! Your jam-packed, hectic schedule will thank you later.
Most nurses are extremely busy both in and outside of work, and they may struggle staying organized! From rotating shifts to overtime pickups, mandatory meetings, and trainings, it feels like they work all the time (and some of them do).
On top of this, they have lives outside of work. Whether it’s spending time with friends, kids, or significant others, nurses’ schedules are jam-packed and consist of so many moving parts.
A nursing planner is a great way for them keep all of their consistently-moving and ever-changing aspects of life organized (or at least, somewhat)!
Whether it’s in a work bag, riding shotgun in the car, or on a bedside table, nursing planners help you to thoroughly plan out your day, week, month, or year! Doesn’t that sound great?
Everyone deserves an organized, healthy work–life balance – the science behind it doesn’t lie!
I hope this break down has provided you with enough insight to spoil yourself with a nursing planner!
If you choose to purchase one, have additional recommendations for other nursing planners, or have had one in the past that you want to repurchase, I would love to hear your feedback!
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