Daily huddles

[Jhalliburton90]

I am trying to work on implementing daily huddles at my job. How does your unit get together and what does your huddles consist of? What times work best for each shift? As much input as possible is greatly appreciated!

[ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN]

We are supposed to do them, but we mostly skip it because it's usually unrealistic to have everyone leave their patients all at once to have a little meeting. The doctors are supposed to be involved too, but if it's night shift and they are on 24 hour call, and they happen to be catching a nap, they are going to be pissed if you wake them up to "huddle". Instead, our charge frequently rounds and asks the nurses if there is anything they need, or if anything crazy is happening, etc. The nurses are pretty good at coming to the charge if they need help, and communicating what is going on with their patients to the doctors.

I think our huddles are supposed to be at 11am for dayshift, and midnight for nights. We are supposed to discuss any difficulties with our assignments and charge is supposed to adjust staffing accordingly, but normally she just does it as she goes and talks to the nurses individually throughout the night.

[Jhalliburton90]

Thank you for your input! I know every hospital does things a little bit differently, we are trying to implement it on our unit and so I am trying to get a bunch of ideas and figure out what works best! Again, thank you.

[kejRN]

We do ours just before beginning the shift, before we get report. We discuss the basics of all the patients on the unit. We all like to somewhat be aware of issues of the patients on the unit. We also discuss any risk reports that were done on the previous shift. We also talk about any hospital wide issues or unit wide issues that need to be discussed. It usually lasts 10 minutes or less.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

I work in a procedural area, so the bulk of our patients arrive after 7:30am. Our huddles are done each morning at 7:15. We have a template that gets updated each day/week as things change. It includes safety issues and reminders related to recent events, any hot topics- such as a JC visit, inservice, practice changes, new equipment, mandatory education, etc. and a run down of any patients who might be particularly complex (hx anesthesia problems, difficult IV stick, multiple procedures, custody/consent issues... A brief period at the end allows staff to raise any concerns or ask questions.

Huddles are still frequently used on inpatient units as well, but they will often do 2-3 huddle times- morning, afternoon and night, to cover all shifts. The daily huddle info is also posted (ours is done electronically but you could print out the template and hang it somewhere) to allow staff who couldn't attend huddle the chance to review the information.

[datalore]

Same for me as kejRN- the night charge nurse runs it, and all day staff and most night staff attend, but nights are expected to be finishing tasks and answering bells. (And then vice versa at night shift.) We quickly cover patient safety issues, risk related items, equipment/education/policy items (if applicable). It's usually 5 minutes long, occurring 10 minutes after we punch in and immediately before getting report from offgoing RNs. I find it helpful at promoting safety because then everyone knows the high risk situations they may walk into/need to help with on the unit, and any major unit- or hospital-wide changes are known by all.

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

I float around and each unit is different. However, each unit huddles first thing in the morning prior in the unit conference room at 0700 before the oncoming nurse goes to get report from the offgoing nurse. This huddle consists of any watchers/high alert patients on the floor, any social issues that everyone should be aware of, and any safety issues everyone should be aware of. Sometimes the charge nurses mention any major changes in policies or supplies as an FYI reminder.

On some floors, they also do a safety huddle twice during the actual shift. This is usually around 11am and 5pm. The charge sends all the RNs a notification that the safety huddle is going to begin in 5 minutes outside of a certain room, and those who can make it show up. Everyone briefly gives an update on their kids as far as admits, discharges, and anything major going on that day such as OR or a procedure. It takes about 3-5 minutes, if that.

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

We do daily huddles everyday around 830am. We go over discharges, admissions and patients in l and D. The neonatal NPs attend. Huddles usually last 15 to 20 minutes. I enjoy them . If I'm super busy I skip huddles. Otherwise I plan my morning around them. One of the nurses call them church announcements. That still cracks me up...

[blackribbon]

Huge waste of time! Put the important shift specific info on the assignment sheet or send out an email for general info. I also resent hearing the same info for several days in a row because it might be someone's first shift working. I personally think it is dangerous to have the entire staff at one nursing station while the unit goes unmanned for 5-10 minutes (sometimes longer). Our unit just started forcing them on us. They are at 5 minutes before our shift starts (so "off the clock")...which means we are working 15 minutes free a week, 1 hour free a month, and an entire 12 hour shift for free each week.