Taped report vs. verbal report

[deespoohbear]

I was wondering what form of report your facility uses. I work on a general med-surg floor. Up until about 2 years ago, we had taped report. Then the higher ups in the nursing mangement decided that we would give verbal reports at our nursing "mods." Of course the three nurses who made this decision do not work the floor and did not ask for input from the nurses who do work the floor. The verbal reports are really difficult to get through at 3 p.m. The phone rings non-stop, ancillary departments are taking the charts that we need to read orders on and families are constantly at the desks asking for stuff. It has taken over an hour to get through report for 6 patients sometimes!! Plus, the total lack of privacy we have at report time is incredible. Anyone could hear what we are talking about, even if we are using our lowest voices. The problems we were running into with were taped report was that the next shift was not getting into the report room and starting report right away. They would sit around and gab and not start report until after 3 sometimes!! I was just wondering how many of you use verbal reports, and how many use taped reports. What do you see as the pros and cons to each. Plus does anyone have any suggestions on how to make verbal reports go smoother with less interruptions? Thanks for your input.

[mattcastens]

Working in an ICU, we always give verbal reports. The easiest way to keep them running smooth is for the report giver to stay on task and keep a consistent, organized pattern.

I know that verbals on a general floor are very difficult. At our hospital, on the floors, there is no taped report, nor is there verbal. For each patient, the nurses fill out a small report sheet that tells vitals, I&Os, and important assessment findings. These are placed on the front of the chart for the oncoming nurses to look at. If anything needs to be added after the sheet is filled out, usually a quick, quiet verbal will do. Granted, I've never used this method (I don't float to the floors), so I don't know how well this works.

I have heard of some hospitals using a phone report system. This works on the taped pattern, but is individualized. Each nurse has a PIN to access reports. Using a similar method as voice mail, the oncoming nurse can key in the room number and hear an individualized report for each patient. This method takes big bucks, and we all know how much management likes to spend money, so ...

Just a couple of ideas.

[frustratedRN]

ive been at hospitals that use both.

i like the verbal better because you can ask questions. something you cant do with a tape.

we have a conference room where we give and get report. it would be difficult at best to do that at the desk although one or two of the nurses prefer that.

yes some of the ancillary departments call. and sometimes the docs need us but we refuse calls

not of the utmost urgency.

there is a drawback to the verbal report. both nurses are off the floor for a bit and sometimes the patients have to wait. thats usually not so much a problem because we are right there for an emergency.

we have patient care sheets so we dont take charts into report. all of our data is notes on these sheets.

[misti_z]

We can do either, its the nurses preference.

If I need/want to get out on time I do tape. But I prefer to give verbal so I don't leave wondering if I taped everything. Verbals give you the chance to ask questions and make sure there are no questions that need to be asked of you. Although, when listening to a taped report you have a chance to pause when your needed somewhere else--and not get the dirty eye from the nurse trying to go home!!!

[deespoohbear]

Thanks for the input. Our main problem in verbal report seems to be the constant interruptions. Of course, mgmt just tells us to tell the families we are giving report and we will be with them in a moment. I find that very rude. Most of the general public probably doesn't realize what goes on in report. And of course when the first patient satisfication survey came back with remarks about nurses not wanting to take time to answer their questions, we will be in hot water with the mgmt. I think our manager needs to talk to the ancillary departments and ask them to try and review the charts at a time besides shift change. It is really hard to stay on task when there are so many interruptions..Well, anyway I got some ideas off of this thread that I may see about trying at our facility. :p

[mattcastens]

Originally posted by deespoohbear

Thanks for the input. Our main problem in verbal report seems to be the constant interruptions. Of course, mgmt just tells us to tell the families we are giving report and we will be with them in a moment. I find that very rude. Most of the general public probably doesn't realize what goes on in report. And of course when the first patient satisfication survey came back with remarks about nurses not wanting to take time to answer their questions, we will be in hot water with the mgmt. I think our manager needs to talk to the ancillary departments and ask them to try and review the charts at a time besides shift change. It is really hard to stay on task when there are so many interruptions..Well, anyway I got some ideas off of this thread that I may see about trying at our facility. :p

The way to solve this is to do exactly what management says. I simply tell the family that I'm giving report, I introduce the oncoming nurse, and I give them a realistic time frame in which they can expect an answer to their question. I've never had a family complain about this.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

What we did was a written report handed over by the team leader to the entire oncoming team. All three teams got report at the same time in less than 10 minutes. The entire off going shift was available to catch call lights and bedpans for the 10 minutes. Almost always everyone got off at a reasonable time.

The "old" shift would print up a census or tech sheet or whatever that had the name, dx and doc's name....we'd write in IV, surg & date, I&O etc, and make a copy for each oncoming member of a team of 10, and 1 copy for whoever was in charge.

It would take maybe 5 minutes to write in 'cause you had your copy of the one you were given.

Then any serious matters were taken to the bedside by the off going team leader and the oncoming team leader......serious meaning.....fresh post ops.....blood transfusions...epidural patients.....mainly to do a quick catch, but also to assure that the new nurse saw the patient right away.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I hope this works. I had to do one from memory. This is from the HBO caremanager program and is called an ADL sheet.

[SharonH, RN]

I work PRN at two hospitals. At the one hospital we do verbal. I hate it! First off you have to wait for the other nurse to show up. When she finally puts up all of her stuff and gets through BS'ing around, shooting the crap etc. it's usually 15 minutes into the shift already. Then they ask question after question. On the flip side when I am receiving report I seem to always get stuck with the one nurse who has a problem giving me the facts straight and always wants to give some long drawn out report including narrative about every conversation she had with pharmacy, the docs, the family, etc. Ugh! I never leave on time from there.

At the other hospital, we have mini tape recorders for every room so you never have to wait for the other team to finishing taping or listening. It's wonderful and I always leave on time from there(last night being the ugly exception!)

[willie2001]

We used to give verbal report but it always took too long. We have been taping report now for several years and report goes alot smoother. If the oncoming nurse has questions, she can get together with the previous nurse after report. We tape at0700, 1500, and 2300. We do have some 12 hour shift nurses. The oncoming nurse usually takes a verbal report when she comes on at 1900. We've found that the nurses coming in a 1900 have a hard time getting settled in (gabbing, chatting,etc) and often wouldn't even start listening to a tape until 1920 or later. It's faster at 1900 to give verbal. :)

[tiger]

i've done both too. taping is much preferred for reasons already given. when our tape player broke the last time our boss said it wasn't in the budget to get a new one so we chipped in and bought one ourselves. it is worth it to leave on time.

[ladybug23]

We have taped report at our hospital. Advantages to taped are that there are no interuptions. When the new shift comes on they listen to report while the leaving shift closes charts ect. that way if there are any questions they can be asked before the leaving nurse leaves. Verbal report is nice especially if you know the patients allready because you only have to give updates for the day not all the details. But we've had good success with taped reprort. If nobody BSed before the start of the shift verbal would be fine, but I don't think that it's humanly feasible.