Ineffective Handoff Report For Nurses

In every profession there are changes that propel how tasks are done; nursing is no stranger to this. One of the biggest changes that have come into nursing’s daily events is how report hand-offs are being done. Gone are the days of taped report that each off going nurse must tape about each patient and the oncoming nurse must listen to. Nurses are now being encouraged to move their report to the bedside, in front of the patient (Trossman, 2007). It is very important to know how this can affect the patient and even the nurse’s schedule. With every change, there are positives and negatives that can finalize the decision to keep or forego

Safety and satisfaction are two incredibly important aspects that have become the focus of many nursing related studies. Actions to raise patient satisfaction and measures to increase patient safety have continuously been investigated and tested. Recently, with the help of evidence-based research, hospitals have begun to utilize shift reporting at the bedside and assessing patients’ needs every hour in a means to boost patient safety and satisfaction. It is my belief that with consistent implementation of bedside shift report and structured hourly rounding, nurses are able to maximize the safety of patients and their satisfaction with our care.

Nursing bedside handover is as an important part in the transferring of nursing responsibilities of clinical care for all patients from one nurse to another nurse at the end of the shift (Chin, Warren, Kornman & Cameron, 2012). Nursing handover is significant in maintaining the continuity of patient care for better health outcomes. If the information provided to another person is poorly conveyed may lead to major issues such as communication barrier, patient’s privacy, and confidentiality at the bedside (Anderson, Malone, Shanahan & Manning, 2014).

Handoffs during shift change between nurses is one of the most important ways to communicate essential information related to the patients’ care and their safety. This is an evidence-based practice that improves communication among nurses and patients since the handoffs are conducted at the patients’ bedside, face-to-face, with the computer using SBAR. The patients are involved in the update of their care with the incoming nurse, enabling them to share concerns and to add valuable information, which increases patients’ satisfaction. Additionally, during the handoffs, the nurses with the patients are able to review and update the patients’ white board with the goals, activities, procedures, labs, consults, and symptom management for the incoming

According to the Bradley and Mott (2012), study report about the bedside handover outcomes, completed in South Australia, they reported a huge reduction in patient safety incidents such as burns, medication errors, skin tear and falls after applying a bedside nursing report. If nurses are doing shift report somewhere in conference room or nursing station, there are not no one to attempt the patient call light, patients are almost themselves and patient needs are not met. During this time, there is a big change for patient incidents. Bedside sift report decreases falls, more promote response to patient calls and reduction of patient call light use. Present handoff practices include face to face in a private setting, group report, telephone report, and verbal reports

“Ineffective nursing handover can negatively impact on patient outcomes. Evidence suggests that nursing handover in ED is highly variable. Proposed handover models in the literature are structured for inpatient settings and may not be suitable for ED settings” ( Klim, S., Kelly, A., Kerr, ., Wood, S., & McCann, T. (2013), background). So, the study looks at the emergency room nurses’ perceptions of their current practice for report handoff at the change of shift and its effectiveness. The question is then, what information is needed and is there a way to standardize report to facilitate the transfer of that essential communication from one nurse to the other in the setting of

Quantia, I agree patient handoff and report is imperative to positive patient outcomes. I also understand the reality of the actual experience and the many opportunities for distractions and missed communications during this part of patient care. The transferring of patient care must occur numerous times in a patients stay in the hospital or even just in the initial admission stage in the emergency department. For example, patients are transferred from the nurse’s care to various departments including medical imaging and ultimately from the emergency department to the floor for their stay in the hospital. My current organization recently mandated bedside report, nurse to nurse verbal report for all units and also implemented the use of SBARs

Accurate exchange of information among nurses is important, but shift to shift report even more important among hospital staffs. Hospital staffs include a health care provider, nurses, dietitian, therapists, laboratory technicians and etc. to prevent possible errors, ensure patient safety, and

Communication plays a critical role in the healthcare industry. It is a critical part of nurse, as you will be providing viable information to the different individuals. As a nurse one reason that communication is critical is during handoff. “A standardized handoff communication tool is recognized as a Joint Commission patient safety goal to reduce communication errors and improve patient safety” (Taylor, 2015). In recent years, healthcare facility has change the shift report from a report outside the room to a bedside report. A bedside report been established to reduce medical errors, and improve patient safety. Bedside report also incorporates the patient involvement in their own care. Engaging patient in their health care, can lead to

Recognizing that patient participation is vital to their personal medical care, healthcare organizations are conducting nursing staff shift reports at the bedside in the patient’s presence. Bedside reports aim to avoid communication failures by exchanging real-time information at shift change. Bedside reporting is a new alternative to the customary change of shift report that traditionally takes place in a unit hallway or at the nurse’s station. This provides an opportunity for questions before valuable information is lost or overlooked. In this literature review of bedside shift reporting, three studies were compared in order to show that a patient’s perspective is valued as they can see and hear from the team of professionals who are providing their care. Bedside shift report also improves the nurses’ understanding of the patient’s condition as the nurse is able to visualize the patient and share relevant information.

Nursing is a profession of compassion and healing. Nurses are subjected to compassion fatigue, burnout, high stress, and moral distress. Many nurses work 12-hour shifts within a facility with staffing shortages and are determined to balance work with multiple aspects of life outside of work. Under stress, over worked, and minimally assisted, nurses are vulnerable to making mistakes that could lead to death. “The Institute of Medicine reported that communication failures account for most adverse outcomes in hospitals” (Margo, 2013). This paper will discuss increasing patient safety and closing the gap in communication by adding RN staff huddle to bedside shift report. For patients in an ICU, how does RN staff huddle plus bedside shift report compare to bedside shift report alone, in relation to staff knowledge of all patients on the unit to result in increased patient safety during a 12-hour shift?

In order to incorporate the inter-shift report change to bedside shift report, the hospital’s unit leadership, specifically the clinical nurse leader as well as the nurse manager, will play a major role in incorporating bedside shift report. Also, a specific focus committee needs to be formed, involving the director of professional development and education, nursing stuff, the director of nursing, nursing leader and manager. The committee will make a plan of how to make this change as smooth as possible. The benefits of doing so are improved communication between RN’s and other healthcare professionals about the patient’s health care plan, patients will be informed about care and who is caring for them, which in the end will lead to safer care

In 2013, the Joint Commission, in an effort to improve quality of care and patient satisfaction, implemented a handbook and tools to transition to bedside shift reporting (AHRQ, 2013). Nursing shift reports historically have occurred in many formats like verbal reports, written, or recorded, but research supports taking the report to the patient’s bedside. Matter of fact, switching to a blend of verbal reporting and bedside reporting guided by a standardized communication tool like the Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation (SBAR) structure allow patients and family to participate in the information and plan of care. Both qualitative and quantitative data have revealed improvements in patient safety, patient & family quality of care, nursing satisfaction, and accountability between nurses. One pilot study on performing shift reports at the bedside found a rise from 75% to 90% in patient satisfaction with nursing communication over a three month study period (Radtke, M., 2013). Change-of-shift report at the bedside, although a challenge for nursing staff, offers an opportunity to improve the experience of care by partnering with patients and families.

End of shift reports in this unit are often taken place at the central nursing station, at nurses’ lunch room, or at the medicine room. Although JCAHO has defined bedside shift report as one of the strategies to encroach patient satisfaction (Guide to Patient and Family Engagement in Hospital Quality and Safety, 2013), many nurses are still reluctant to this methods for many reasons. It seems as the cynicism of the implementation is still exceedingly high. Many argue that the implementation is non-beneficial and outweigh the cost. These include the longer time they spend in the report, the unavailability of the patient (e.g. confused, comatose patient), the confidentiality and privacy (e.g. visitors in the room), nervousness in front of the

Change of shift report is the time when responsibility and accountability for the care of a patient is transferred from one nurse to another. This transfer involves handoff from one nurse who has cared for the patient to the next nurse who may not know the patient. Report is informational as patient’s condition, treatment, and care planning are shared. The communication during this process is intended to insure continuity of care giving and patient safety. First, report can have emotional meaning for the nurse. It is a time to connect with other staff and share the emotional distress and struggles endured over the course of shift. We nurses may take this time to complain about other staff, patients, their families, or update ourselves on