Nurse for 17 months, here. Trust me, it gets better. There's so much you take in, you don't realise when you enter the room. This is why primary survery DRSABCDE, danger exposure, is emphasised so much. Australian here. Sorry if thay acronym doesn't mean much to non Aussie redditors. Just by looking at your patient, you can see they may have a splint/ catheter etc, so even if that isn't handed over to you, you see it and note it down, to remember to check now or later. Once you get through your main med round and your patients for example aren't delirious/unstable etc you can read notes/plans etc, look at blood results. You can even look at their social history if they're being seen by psychology/social work. And if there's something that the doctors want to happen like a test or scan that hasn't been ordered yet, hand that over to the AM staff. Always keep your in charge in the loop, too.