change of shift report

[NS_RN]

1. taped

2. verbal

3. written

Which do you prefer?

[mopsi]

Well I agree with Shandylynn so I must alright...But to answer the question I do like verbal report much better..There is so much that gets added other than temp, diagnosis and last prn..I find the insights of other nurses helpful and it is a time to get some exchange of ideas on other issues..Makes it feel less like a factory and adds some human touch to the patients identies even the PIA'S....

[nurseygrrl, LPN]

I have never heard of a taped report?!?!

At my SNF we have a written report, but the nurses on my unit usually go over it with the oncoming shift verbally as well. The written report gets collected by the supervisors at the end of each shift and there are some things that we'd rather verbalize than write down for obvious reasons. :)

[shunda]

Verbal is the best way to go so their is clear understanding and if there are any questions then they can be clarified before the staff leaves. At my job with 6 different units it has to be verbal.

Shunda

[Gardengal]

Where I work in ICU we give verbal, but when I worked telemetry we used taped report-went to verbal-and then reverted back to taped because verbal took so long. In ICU I prefer verbal.

There was a separate tape recorder for each nurse for the oncoming shift. Assignments had to be made by 2 hours prior to the next shift. We would look for the tape recorders for each nurse getting our patients and record the number on the meter for the beginning and end of each patient report along with the room number. Updates were given verbally. New patients were given verbally. Prn meds given from time tape was made were written on note cards and taped to the tape recorder.

Sounds confusing but actually worked pretty well. At least when you were done you could leave at the end of your shift instead of waiting for the next shift to get ready to hit the floors.

[Heather333]

Verbal. No visiting from parents at that time.

Heather

[altomga, ADN, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, APRN]

We have a "kardex" that keeps all the pt info on it that the previous shift will write an update on and keep the IV sites, tubes, etc...

We also are talking though. That way we can tell each other things that don't need to be "written" down. Also it helps to be able to clarify things with the leaving shift.

[jones58]

We do a verbal report, we can convey more information this way. I work 2:45p-11:15p, the oncoming shift works 11p-6a, that means we only have 15 minutes to count narcotics and give report for 35-40 pts. And of course the want us to punch out on time.

[jschut, BSN, RN]

Verbal is the only way. If we have questions, we can ask.

Only thing that irritates the CRAP out of me is when someone comes up and interrupts while report is being given...happened to me this AM while I was trying to give report to the oncoming nurse...the other day shift nurse came in and started gabbing about her night and boyfriend problems and so on and so forth....

Kind of ticked me off to say the least....

[webbiedebbie]

I hate taping. I get all tongue tied and sometimes forget to say things. I would rather talk to someone face to face. Plus, I work on a postpartum floor and have to listen to report on all of the patients and then I am assigned my own patients. I don't need to hear about every patient on our floor! Most are PP anyway. Just give me a face to face report of who I will be taking care of.

[LTCNursemidwest]

I like the verbal with a very short written- verbal so any questions can be answered and written for cya reasons.

[jwhitrn]

We had been doing verbal reports, but recently, we have been instructed to listen to a taped report. This method is fine if we are charge nurse for the night, but really takes a long time if you are just picking up a normal assignment, because you have to listen to all of the other patient reports. We have 32 beds....

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

Like verbal but have to have it taped in most of the facilities I have worked at. There are too many unanswered questions with a taped report, but the Hn says TAPE.