Giving Report! Ugh!

Nurses General Nursing

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i know this is a dumb question. well, at least it feels like a dumb question. i'm a new rn. when i'm giving report, i feel like i'm in a contest to tell the most extravagant and lively story. most of the nurses that i hear can give a 3-5minute report on one patient. report takes forevvvvvveeer. then when it's my turn to give my report on the patient it's half a minute and if something major occured, then it may be a full minute. it just always feels too short and no one appears to be really listening to me. they just say "ok" after my 30-45 second spill.

today i gave report and i knew that it was comparable to what the other nurses do because i was animated, and i threw in a few exaggerated comments about "how rough" it had been. i had everyone's undivided attention. they seemed interested in my every word. they made eye contact with me and asked questions about the patient.....but that's not the kind of report that i want to give. i want to give the information that i feel is important and keep it short and sweet.

i don't want to give report that is like "woooooooo, what a night. do you have the patient in room 113? well, let me tell you about the crazy man and his little crazy wife that won't leave. she makes you spell the names of all the medications and she writes them down and looks them up before you give them. then mr. crazy man will take each pill one by one. if you smell a funny scent in the room it's his wife's feet. last night she asked the nurse aide to give her a bath too. mr. crazy man pressed the call light a million times and he said he just wanted to see if it worked....

in nursing school when we gave report we used sbar. it seems like sbar is not really at work anymore in the actual setting. i don't know. i just feel like the new nurse reciting the facts....where the iv is, the condition. pain level and methods of pain control, times that major things occured during the shift, if the physician was called, lab values, if the patient ate/voided (how much/color,) etc. i guess that's boring information that the oncoming nurse can look up if she wanted. i guess.....

i just want to give the information that is essential, not tell a "story" for 6 or 7 patients every shift.

"woooooo. let me tell you about patient #2 in room 116. get ready for this one...."

if i'm supposed to tell a dramatic story, please let me know. that's just not how they showed us in school... it didn't take an hour either. how absurd? or maybe that's common..... i don't know. :confused:

when you're receiving report, what information do you really want?

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Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.

Just the facts please ... I really don't want to have someone perform or insert some anecdotal story; I just want to get report and get started. Keep it real. ;)

I'm not saying don't have fun; that can come later.

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.

Quick and dirty, baby.

Seriously, if you had a terrible day or night, I do want a warning, but by no means a play by play.

I want:

-who the patient is

-why he or she is here

-any history pertinent to this admission

-unusual vital sign trends

-a brief assessment (yes, I will do my own, but I'd like to look for changes - this includes bowel/bladder habits!)

-any interventions done for critical labs,

-why PRNs were given during your shift

- any IV access

-if the patient takes his or her pills any certain way, is HOH, Spanish speaking, etc.

-and where we stand on discharge planning and obstacles

I will look up the labs, test results, read the patient's other medical history, that kind of thing...just tell me what I need to know and I'll do the same!

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in bed, been fed, got meds, nothin' red, none dead, 'nuff said :D

seriously, go through the kardex- diagnosis, surgery date, tests today, results from yesterday's tests, funky lab, ivs, diet, activity limits, abnormal events/vitals (or normal vs if they've been whacked).... just the info- no performance--- and on time !!!! i used to give report for all 27 beds- and it started at 6:45 a.m. even if i was the only one in the room- a few days of "they have charts", and no problem with late comers. the shift starts the same time every day... (obviously, sometimes stuff happens- but if i was done with report when they showed up, they got the idea). i don't want drama or entertainment- i want info, you to go home, and to get on with the shift :)

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Just the facts please ... I really don't want to have someone perform or insert some anecdotal story; I just want to get report and get started. Keep it real. ;)

I'm not saying don't have fun; that can come later.

Thanks! :D That was helpful. I feel the same way when I'm starting. Having to listen to all these loooong stories cut's into my time and throws my flow off. I hate it, because it throws my shift assessments and meds off by an hour sometimes. I'm sure other people may be annoyed, but we just do what "everyone else" is doing. We start shift late attending these monologues and end shift late performing these monologues. More than 50% of report is useless information, I'm sure. :eek:

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Nursing Drama 101 would be an interesting elective- but **** off anyone you tried it on !!!

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Thanks! That's the model that I tried to stick to. I just find it odd that no one appears to listen to it. My dramatic story sure got everyone listening to report this morning, though. lol Of course, I'm ready to go home at shifts end, so no more acts from me. I'm a real nurse, not HawthoRNe. lol ;)

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Quick and dirty, baby.

Seriously, if you had a terrible day or night, I do want a warning, but by no means a play by play.

I want:

-who the patient is

-why he or she is here

-any history pertinent to this admission

-unusual vital sign trends

-a brief assessment (yes, I will do my own, but I'd like to look for changes - this includes bowel/bladder habits!)

-any interventions done for critical labs,

-why PRNs were given during your shift

- any IV access

-if the patient takes his or her pills any certain way, is HOH, Spanish speaking, etc.

-and where we stand on discharge planning and obstacles

I will look up the labs, test results, read the patient's other medical history, that kind of thing...just tell me what I need to know and I'll do the same!

Thanks! That's the model that I tried to stick to. I just find it odd that no one appears to listen to it. My dramatic story sure got everyone listening to report this morning, though. lol Of course, I'm ready to go home at shifts end, so no more acts from me. I'm a real nurse, not HawthoRNe. lol ;)

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in bed, been fed, got meds, nothin' red, none dead, 'nuff said :D

seriously, go through the kardex- diagnosis, surgery date, tests today, results from yesterday's tests, funky lab, ivs, diet, activity limits, abnormal events/vitals (or normal vs if they've been whacked).... just the info- no performance--- and on time !!!! i used to give report for all 27 beds- and it started at 6:45 a.m. even if i was the only one in the room- a few days of "they have charts", and no problem with late comers. the shift starts the same time every day... (obviously, sometimes stuff happens- but if i was done with report when they showed up, they got the idea). i don't want drama or entertainment- i want info, you to go home, and to get on with the shift :)

in bed, been fed, got meds, nothin' red, none dead, 'nuff said

ok! that's what they taught us in 1st semester! love it! thanks for the reminder.

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I'm guilty of being a story teller. :)

But I don't expect anything other than what's super important that I can't find somewhere in the chart. I've got 12 hours to figure everything else out, so I'm not picky.

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Specializes in New PACU RN.

Thank god we only give verbal reports for unusual cases/rought shifts. The rest is left as written report sheet and most of the time I wait to see that the oncoming nurse arrived and leave!

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in bed, been fed, got meds, nothin' red, none dead, 'nuff said :D

can you imagine the administrators' faces if joint commission was doing their inspection and asked a nurse about how they give report, instead of parroting off the whole sbar spiel they said "well to ensure a safe patient handoff, i always use bfmrds! (pronounced, "buff murds," of course.)

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