Bedside Reporting? YES OR NO?

Baby Wrangler · Feb 5, 2015

I imagine it would also depend on what kind of area you work in. I work in the NICU (in Ontario) and since we only get two or three patients we only do bedside reporting, plus the babies are literally right next to each other. I would think though, if you work med-surg and have seven or eight patients it would be very time-consuming to go around to each room and do bedside reporting that way. Nurses might have to come in earlier to do that (but then they can also leave earlier so no biggie). Not to mention that if you have adult patients, it might be a bit uncomfortable giving report in front of them (sometimes there are things that you would prefer to tell the next nurse privately, e.g. a report that's come back that the doctor hasn't fully debriefed patient with yet).

I think one of the best things about bedside reporting though is that you can show the next nurse exactly what you're talking about and they can ask you any questions they might have by looking at the patient. For example, they can ask was that baby's belly always that big? And you can be there to say oh yeah, he's always had a large cpap belly, etc. And you can do double-checks of everything like IV lines etc.

cynmrn · Feb 5, 2015

We do bedside reporting at my facility (or we are supposed to). Generally, my practice has been to give a more detailed run through with the oncoming RN outside of the room, then go into the room with them and introduce them to the patient, change the white board, and show the RN something I may have mentioned that was out of the ordinary. Fore example, if I have a patient that had an angiogram, I would go to the bedside and show the oncoming RN the dressing at the incision site so they get a baseline idea of what it looks like/feels like. Same thing with reconfirming a critical drip set up, etc. I think the difficulty that we face sometimes with doing the whole thing at the bedside is that sometimes there are things we share that are not really appropriate for the patient to hear (e.g. if we are discussing major problem behavior, etc.) and sometimes, patients have FINALLY fallen asleep at shift change. Otherwise, I think it's a really good practice and gives you a good idea of what you're walking into.

Fiona59 · Feb 5, 2015

No. My unit takes forever in report. Certain nurses enjoy prolonging report You only know about your assigned patients. What about when you are the only one answering call bells? No knowledge of what happening in room xx?

rntransition727 · Feb 5, 2015

I think it works better to give the full comprehensive report at the station or in dictation room ( private area) then go to each room and introduce the new RN and then show the IV placement, wounds and such. That's what always worked best. Unfortunately, management wanted us to follow a script and a checklist which took forever and it required a long interruption to the pts rest. Management seems to miss the point on pt care

loriangel14, RN · Feb 5, 2015

Nope. We had a manager that tried this. It was a disaster. Sometimes the assignment changes and it's not a straight nurse to nurse switch. Plus it takes too long and when we were in the room then the patient wanted stuff or they wanted to chat. Plus you couldn't do it in front of family and visitors. And if there was a behaviour or family dynamics issue you couldn't discuss that.As well there was the confidentiality issue, especially in ward rooms. It only lasted a few days.