interrupted reports

[thisnurse]

do you allow interruptions?

we never used to but now the secretaries are transferring calls to the conference room. takes longer to finish report. unless its an emergency i think it should wait.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

How long should report last? Unfortunately sometimes the report expands to the time allotted to it. (And THEN some)

Look at it from the secretaries' point of view. They get calls. They are REQUIRED to pass the information on. To have them decide what is an emergency and what isn't is asking them to use nursing judgement. They aren't trained for that, and they aren't being PAID for that. They are being paid to be secretaries. Let them do their job.

Who is out on the floor when the oncoming shift is in report?

Someone should be. That someone should be able to handle the decisions, pass the pain meds whatever for the FEW minutes that it takes to get report.

Optimally the off going shift should be on the floor until clock-out time, not standing in line at the time clock.

After we started POD/Team nursing we could ALL get report in less than 10-15 minutes.

[remail99]

I have been one of those interupting report. It doesn't happen often, but I have a job to do (Phlebotomy). Sometimes it is necessary to pull a nurse from report to get verification on a test ordered, or to let a nurse know a pt. refused. (Which can be devastating if a pt is going to cath lab, and the nurse thinks the labs have been drawn and they haven't.) In consideration of a nurse's time I try to be prompt and to the point.

[nurs4kids]

I've been all three:

The secretary: damned if she does/damned if she doesn't. Better to transfer and interrupt than to have Ms. Florence N. chewing her butt later because she didn't tell her something about a patient or that her boyfriend called.

The interuptor: usually to update something I forgot to report earlier or some change in pt status..pretty necessary interruption.

The interupted: someone MUST remain on the floor until we get out, so it's no sweat off my butt if they choose to delay report with unnecessary interruptions.

Now, we tape report and pause the player only if the call isn't personal. If we pause it then realize it's a personal call, we simply resume play and the person chatting just misses that report. It's an understood rule. No problems.

[oramar]

Interuptions of report in my opinion are one of the consequences of improper staffing. I have worked places where it did not happen because managment provided adequate coverage.