Bedside reporting

whipping girl in 07, RN · Mar 6, 2009

Where I used to work we had a SBAR form...situation, background, assessment, recommendation is what the letters stand for. We wrote in the permanent stuff in the situation and background sections (Name, Dr., hx, dx, etc) in ink, and wrote in pencil in the assessment and recommendations sections, since that stuff can change from shift to shift. I thought it was helpful as long as it was kept up. Sometimes people would write things there and not put them on the plan of care, which was bad since the SBAR was not a permanent part of the chart.

I googled SBAR and found this...

http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Topics/PatientSafety/SafetyGeneral/Tools/SBARTechniqueforCommunicationASituationalBriefingModel.htm

You have to register but it's free, and you can download forms. Maybe those will help you. No point in reinventing the wheel.

Hope this helps.

Riseupandnurse · Mar 6, 2009

SBAR and bedside reporting sucks, IMHO. Only the nurse who has the patient knows what is going on, there is chaos in the hallway, and it takes twice as long as taped reporting.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 6, 2009

we are implementing bedside reporting in our facility. i am in charge of coming up with some ideas on a handoff communication sheet for the on-coming shifts, if anyone has any ideas or possibly a copy of a form they are currently using i would appreciate the help. this idea is being met by alot of opposition so the progression to this type of reporting will be hard. i am looking for anything that will help.
thank you

what type of a facility is yours? what type of patients do you see? what is your typical nurse to patient ratio? are you planning to be right with the patient for report, or off to the side just enough so that he cannot hear/interrupt you? are you planning to ban families from the unit during report? your question is too vague for anyone to be particularly helpful.

Equinox_93 · Mar 6, 2009

One point- looking at it from the patient's perspective here- if doing bedside reporting- DO be sure to include the patient in the report- allow them a moment to provide commentary if they desire. It may take a moment longer- but it makes ALOT of difference IMO. I've had numerous occasions where this has saved me from explaining something to numerous caregivers and getting frustrated and annoyed. (I have a rare condition that alot of nurses haven't seen- and I get SO tired of having to explain it over and over and over again. Explaining it once would make *everyone's* life easier I think ) It also makes them feel included in their care plan and not "talked over"- something that I think is very important. MHO.

MelissaPhoographerRN · Mar 6, 2009

We did this in my old hospital, or um, we were supposed to. We never did taped report, we always gave report one on one, just in the nurses station. It was hard to do as most of the patients were usually asleep at the AM shift change, so we didn't do it in the room anyway.

We did not have a sheet to fill out, and I'm not sure I would want one. They just printed out the patients care plan and I made my notes on there so that each nurse could organize their notes how they wanted to.That way I had the list of orders to be done and such all on one sheet of paper along with my notes from report. Just my opinion, not sure if you even have the ability to print out their care plans.