Bedside Reporting starting Monday :(((

[2bTraumaRN2008]

So, we are starting this on Monday, and the "general" census is that most aren't happy and lots aren't even doing it at my facility.

I'm not sure what to expect, but I don't think I like what I'm hearing based on feedback from other floors.

For me personally, I have a problem taking 1 hour or more to give report, especially since I drive 1hour plus to and from work, and get up at 0330 to get ready for work. So, now I'll be loosing another hour of sleep on the days where I work back to back to back????? And, FYI - most of our nurses commute 45 minutes or more!! NOT FAIR!!

Another issue I have is fingersticks....we can barely get them done now before breakfast comes, and now the pt's will be done eating breakfast before we can even get in there to do their FS...that makes alot of sense.

The one plus I do see is: LOTS of our pt's are confused, so that will make things real simple....I wonder if I can just request to have all to confused pt's from now on, or the self cares who just come in for a simple cellulits that don't have an ounce of history...And to top things off, we are going tele in January...

And, we are to give our pt's our numbers from our personal hand held phones so they can call us if needed. We can barely handle all the calls that come in now from CT, Xray, Endo, Dr.s, Lab, etc, etc....

We also have to sometimes give report to 3-4 nurses, what do you do about this?? I sure hope they can do a better job at assignments.

I think maybe it's time to move into a M-F office job....

I look forward to reading/getting feedback from those who have been doing it for some time now, please!!

Thanks for letting me VENT!!!

[vashtee, RN]

The hospital I work in says they will be starting bedside report soon, and I am also dreading it. Our floor is chronically short on CNAs, and most of my patients need stuff done the second I walk in the room (bathroom, water, turning, changing). Are we supposed to ignore the 90 year olds who have to go to the bathroom (and take forever to do it) when we are standing right there?

Also, we have shared rooms... no privacy. Honestly, I will probably end up doing most of my report in the hallway, and then just introduce the next shift's nurse to the patient at bedside.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

It's the latest gimmick to raise press ganey scores. We are told we are even supposed to wake the poor patients up and even do it for the confused and out of it patients and we are supposed to say everything in front of them! Really, give me a break, so in the end you end up on potty patrol and get a brief very sketchy report and it takes longer. Ocassionally you get an alert, oriented person who is interested and asks questions and of course you can check IV's etc make sure everythings ok, but really it doesn't make sense in many situations. Am I really supposed to say patient is drug seeking, confused, wandering, etc.

Again alot of people only do it when management's around, but they have spies you know, could it be the HUC or pet staff person or someone on a house council who will report if you don't do it their satisfaction? Most do a report first and then a meet and greet with the patients, but that isn't acceptable to management, even though that would make the most sense.

Just the latest gimmick that's making the rounds at the hospitals these days! Oh and the cards that are sent to the patients to raise press ganey scores!

[suanna]

What was your previous report system? I'm OK with any face-to-face report that is in the area of the patients so you can do a quick look-in with report. Bedside can be problematic when you have information to pass on that isn't appropriate for the patient to hear like- "I paged Dr. so-and-so twice to report the low hgb but I can't get him to call me back" . The problem needs to be solved but telling the patient his managing physician is more intrested in his golf game than his patients labs is just begging for trouble. The problem with "taped report" is there is no way to clairify information. I worked in a hospital that "taped" report, and nurses always got out on time, usually by skipping over a lot of vital information that needed reviewed. Back room report can be OK if there is a chance for a walkabout with the reporting nurse for IV rounds and introduction to the patients. Let us know how it is going.

[Time4dilaudidyet]

I work for a large healthcare provider in the clearwater florida area, we've been doing bedside reporting for the last few months. Our hospital told us exactly what to say it to the patients when introducing them to the oncoming nurse. For example, "Hello Ms. Smith, this is Sherry, she will be your new nurse today and will be providing excellent patient care for you today." And after bedside report is finished, you must say, "Ms. Smith, thank you for allowing me to care for you last night." You may think I'm kidding, but I'm being very serious about this. To top that off, there are patient care leaders that stand outside the door listening to your report, and will scold you for not following the "script". Our Press Ganey scores are high, the highest of all the hospitals in our company. A previous poster is correct, its all about those Press Ganey scores.....

[nowim clean]

nO REASON BEDSIDE REPORTING SHOULD TAKE LONGER. Its very simple, and it gives both nurses a chance to see the pt.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I work for a large healthcare provider in the clearwater florida area, we've been doing bedside reporting for the last few months. Our hospital told us exactly what to say it to the patients when introducing them to the oncoming nurse. For example, "Hello Ms. Smith, this is Sherry, she will be your new nurse today and will be providing excellent patient care for you today." And after bedside report is finished, you must say, "Ms. Smith, thank you for allowing me to care for you last night." You may think I'm kidding, but I'm being very serious about this. To top that off, there are patient care leaders that stand outside the door listening to your report, and will scold you for not following the "script". Our Press Ganey scores are high, the highest of all the hospitals in our company. A previous poster is correct, its all about those Press Ganey scores.....

I hate all this scripting and micromanagement and telling us what to say and do with the patients. What happened to being an educated "professional" RN making life and death decisions and responsibility to keep our patients safe and stable, yet we are reduced to glorified puppets or stepford nurses! It is pathetic and downright disrespectful! Next they'll be having us stand on our heads and do cartwheels!

Can you imagine the hospital forcing their doctors and pharmacists to play along with the script. Somehow I just can't see it happening! But nurses we can tell them what to do and say and think! Then hassle them with the big brother computer, why were you a minute late or early with that med, why didn't you scan this, and on and on!

Also I find it hard to concentrate standing there trying to write things down, doing potty patrol and waitressing while getting a sketchy report and nothing to write on ie no desk. At that rate, why even bother writing anything down, just wing it and try to figure out the patients on your own which in the end that's what you'll have to do anyway!

[nyrn5125]

My facility did it the way they wanted for maybe a few days. They wanted it done on 8 pt's. It was a nightmare and we changed it. The pt's do not understand the nurses job and what it entails. They cannot help but interrupt for water, toileting,want to go to bed/get up now and here you are the maid to do it all while you have the chart in the room and trying to focus. What other job do you know that does this to their staff?

It was too much and lots of info was lost due to interruptions by the patient and feeling too pressured. Like the need for an MRCP was not consented by the family and RN was not told because you cannot concentrate. We changed it so we give report at the desk fully and then check IV pumps/tubing/meet pt quickly. If they need something at least it isn't holding up as much for the off going rn because report is done.

[Jenni811, RN]

we've been doing bedside reporting for along time. I persoonally don't have an issue with it. Takes maybe 30-45 minutes to get report.

i get report from previous RN and report off to my CNA the info they need to know. While im getting report, my CNA is getting blood pressures and finger sticks from those who need it.

Patient's order off their own menu whenever they want. But they can't order until 7am. this gives us time to get their AM chem stick. Food doesn't come until 0730 so really, we have until then and that is assuming patient orders right at 7am. They almost never do. Kitchen puts on call light when they deliver food, this lets us know food is there so if they need something done (i.e. finger stick) we can get in there before they start eating.

As for giving personal phone to patient, we've talked about it on our unit, but it would be CHAOS!!!! that i don't agree with. I don't think my patients should be able to call my phone. That is for employees to reach me at. if a patient needs me, they can use the call light. Even our manager agreed to this and basically told upper management "Our unit will not be participating in this, and i'm ok with my nurses refusing to participate."

Great manager we have :) She really knows what her nurses can and cannot handle and has a good head on her shoulders about what would cause Chaos. She thought bedside reporting would be ok, but the phone thing....not so much. And she was right, bedside reporting turned out just fine. Doesn't mean i have to get there earlier, but i do always end up punching out about 10-15 minutes late.

[cardiacmadeline, RN]

I have tried to have a positive attitude about bedside report, but I hate it! I waste time looking for the offgoing nurse, and then I am told what I already know because I just read the chart! Now, if something is going on with the patient like an oozing groin site, I have no problem bringing the oncoming nurse in the room and showing them the site. I did that before bs report came along. Otherwise I really dislike it, but I am really trying not to have a negative attitude about it.

[sweet~revenge]

I can't believe how many people here are in favor of bedside report. It's obviously something thought up by a person who's never touched a real patient. I guess for ICU it's ok, but I work nights on a med tele floor with a lot of psych patients and legal holds. The rest of our patients are usually totals on isolation and/or frequent fliers with q3h pain meds. We have had bedside report around for about 2 years now. Here is what we are expected to do for bedside report:

First, we are to go around 30 minutes before end of shift and wake patients up to tell them we're changing shifts and ask if they need anything, any questions, etc. During bedside report, we have to take our med cart and the patient's chart and go into each room. There we are expected to check patient wristbands, date of birth, verify allergies, give total head to toe report, check lines, iv and tubing dates, IVF, and check meds and orders against the chart. This process is repeated for each one of 6-8 patients.

So to anyone who doesn't believe it, yes it takes us at least an hour to do bedside report. Where I work, some floors are more compliant about it than others. The nurses on my floor have taken a stand against it and we pretty much just do face to face report at the nursing station. It's absurd to stand in the room with an agitated patient who's already ****** off about being placed on a legal hold and start talking about their suicide attempt, violent history, psychotic delusions, etc etc. I won't do it. As for total care patients, it already takes forever just to give report let alone do a total head to toe inside the room. Not to mention the things that get missed when you're trying to juggle a chart and a med cart while getting interrupted by a patient every 2 minutes. On top of that, when I've already spent the last 12 hours running around, I really don't want to spend another hour walking from room to room. I deserve to sit down for once thank you very much.

Good luck to you OP. The best thing I can suggest is talk to management and tell them the nurses aren't happy about this and see if you can work out some compromise.

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

I work for a large healthcare provider in the clearwater florida area, we've been doing bedside reporting for the last few months. Our hospital told us exactly what to say it to the patients when introducing them to the oncoming nurse. For example, "Hello Ms. Smith, this is Sherry, she will be your new nurse today and will be providing excellent patient care for you today." And after bedside report is finished, you must say, "Ms. Smith, thank you for allowing me to care for you last night." You may think I'm kidding, but I'm being very serious about this. To top that off, there are patient care leaders that stand outside the door listening to your report, and will scold you for not following the "script". Our Press Ganey scores are high, the highest of all the hospitals in our company. A previous poster is correct, its all about those Press Ganey scores.....

Good gawd.

I'm all for making the patient feel welcomed and cared for. But this scripting nonsense...

We're being turned into circus monkeys.

Nursing: like the agriculture industry, I can plausibly see a time where not very many are "willing to do this kind of work."

Fwiw though, I do like the concept of bedside reporting, but in a private room only. In a shared room this reporting style is absurd. I can also see where some people are having trouble getting out of the room, i.e. when a patient needs help with this or that.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I generally get report done in 25 minutes now, so I am leaving at 1910-1915. By the sounds of it, I will not be getting out until 2000 or later. So, instead of getting home at approx. 2015 or so, I'll just be leaving work, or may have just left.

When we started bedside report, I don't think I ever got out any later that when we were doing nurses station report. Looking at this and you other posts, you are so against even trying. Are you like this will all changes...just complain to no end before the change is made, and then swear that you will never go along with it because you under the perception that it will affect you negatively? If we didn't make any changes unless every person was 100% behind it we would never make changes in nursing (or society in general...). At least give it a change...and I mean more than one day. If, after a few weeks, it is generally not going well then you can complain about it. Until then, try it!