Bedside Shift Reporting in combined Postpartum & Labor Unit

[kmcma]

Our unit is postpartum, antepartum and labor combined (deliverying about 60 deliveries a month, with a level 3 NICU that staffs 3 nurses each shift). We staff 3-4 nurses a shift for PP and Labor combined. We started bedside shift reporting (BSR) in labor over a month ago. Overall, it is going good, but with being a smaller unit, our assignments can change multiple times throughout the shift. This causes problems because the RNs want to know about other the other patients too, not just their patients, so if they answer a call-light they will know what kind of patient they are dealing with. We will start BSR in post partum soon and the nurses are very concerned about the increased time, and not knowing what is going on with the other patients.

The other concern is the actual process of bedside reporting. Do you ask the patient on admission who they are ok with being in the room when BSR is done or just ask everyone to step out?

This trasition is seeming to be very difficult for some staff, and as the manager I am not here with each shift change so I have heard that many staff are not doing it. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[monkeybug]

We would ask people to step out, do a "show" report, and then do the real report at the desk. Quite a pain in the posterior, but necessary. You can't discuss herpes, the fact that the significant other isn't the actual FOB, and sometimes even Gs & Ps (husband may not know about that elective AB) in front of anyone, but also it puts patients on the spot to ask them who can be present. If I were a spouse and my husband asked that I not be there for report, I'd wonder what was up.