change of shift report in hallway

[payatot21]

hi our hospital has started bedside report a couple months ago. i work night shifts 11-7 and most of the times patients are asleep. our manager said that if patients are asleep we should do change of shift report in the hallway. is this a HIPAA violation? i'm very apprehensive to do hallway reporting bec i've always learned that its prohibited to discuss pt info at open access areas. do you guys know where i can inquire further?

[Pax_Ramona]

Yes, I think it would be a clear HIPAA violation to be within earshot of the roomate, visitors, passersby, etc. We tried this BRIEFLY at one hospital and report took twice as long. Besides, the patients seemed offended whenever we used the term SOB :chuckle

[GQRN]

Most of the hospital preaches HIPPA so much but then you have to go in a room and give report while the patient in bed B and their family hears every single thing you just reported off about bed A... Ha, Hippa

Bedside reporting is still better compared to hallway. If in hallway, its not like your yelling out the patient's name, birthdate and all. Your hallway must be really live for 11 pm, hehe. Can I come join the party?

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

If you keep it at a reasonable volume, it shouldn't be overheard...but writing info and trying to get things down would be tough if you're in a hallway, standing. Personally, it gets a little noisy at our station, but we try to keep things at a reasonable volume...and hospitals are NOT known for quiet...or being a vacation getaway.

[patwil73]

The purpose of bedside reporting is to 1) involve the patient in their care and 2) visually confirm any problems or issues such as empty IV bags, overflowing foley's, etc.

If the patient is asleep you can't do #1, so you could give report anywhere and then walk to each room and determine #2. Standing outside the room does nothing exept wake up the patient possibly getting you #1, but in that case why not walk in and do report?

Pat

[jenny456]

Shift change reports were always a problem in my unit. My feeling is that it is the hospital's responsibility to provide a private area/report room for reports. We usually did change of shift at the nurse's station--but people could walk by there at any time. Then we we told to do it in the patient's room--well that is not feasible since there are often visitors there, or the patient is trying to rest. It can also be a source of anxiety for the patient to hear about themselves and their medical complications. Also, there are times when it is necessary to warn the oncoming nurse of problems--such as if the patient is abusive, etc...and I don't think stating that in front of the patient will go over real well. In any case, we never did resolve the issue of where to give report.