Giving report (just a little vent)

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Trauma, Emergency.

OH MAH GAH please do not interrupt me to read out loud something from EGD results from 3 weeks ago when it's 0710 and our patient is only on our cardiac floor because their most recent general anesthesia threw them into afib. AGGHHHHHHHHHH

Seriously though, report is not for detailed H&P. I have to report off on 5 pts- I can't spend 20 minutes on each one.

I hate when people don't pay attention during report and expect me to keep repeating myself!

I hate it when you are chatting and checking your phone when I'm ready to give report. Report time is report time. Be here, be ready, and be focused.

Or when oncoming tries to do a full assessment as you're giving bedside report :dead:

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I know it's not that popular here on AN, but this is huge advantage to Bedside Shift Report..... no droning on reading all the stuff in the chart. Just the facts and current happenings. :)

Specializes in Palliative, Onc, Med-Surg, Home Hospice.
I hate when people don't pay attention during report and expect me to keep repeating myself!

Or run to the manager to tell the manager that the off going nurse doesn't know anything about the patient. Had a nurse not listen to a single thing I said then told the manager that I knew nothing about the patient. Maybe if she would listen to me instead of assessing the patient?

Or when the on-coming nurse is getting vitals and not paying attention as I'm giving report, then asks questions that she/he would have known if they had listened to me in the first place! :arghh:

Specializes in GENERAL.
OH MAH GAH please do not interrupt me to read out loud something from EGD results from 3 weeks ago when it's 0710 and our patient is only on our cardiac floor because their most recent general anesthesia threw them into afib. AGGHHHHHHHHHH

Seriously though, report is not for detailed H&P. I have to report off on 5 pts- I can't spend 20 minutes on each one.

OP;

Your comments are eternally true. Reports should be succinct and cover only the salient highlights. Old news is only valid as it relates to future care in most instances.

Very often what's deemed important or noteworthy is subjective and in the eye of the off-going nurse but nonetheless mostly irrelevant for the on-coming one.

Once when I was giving the A.M. nurse report, I thought that I was being appropriately informative but mercifully brief so as not to leave her any unexpected surprises. After report was over and her being the East Indian, lovely, English accented nurse that she was said, 'Well, thanks for the report, it was nice chit-chatting with you."

"Chit Chat" I thought. So much for taking myself too seriously about inconsequential things ever again.

But later on I thought what a great technique for getting someone (like me) to cut to the chase without saying "just the facts ma'am."

Specializes in SCRN.
I hate when people don't pay attention during report and expect me to keep repeating myself!

Me too. If I'm asked the same information again, I will add : "As I said once already, ..." that usually takes care of it.

Specializes in Med-surg, telemetry, oncology, rehab, LTC, ALF.
I know it's not that popular here on AN, but this is huge advantage to Bedside Shift Report..... no droning on reading all the stuff in the chart. Just the facts and current happenings. :)

And if you miss something or get something wrong (because sometimes that happens!) the patient or their family often times catches it. It makes for a more accurate and well-rounded report.

It was a requirement at the last facility I worked at, and we were regularly audited by charge or NUS to see if we were including the most important information in our hand-off report.

Specializes in Med-surg, telemetry, oncology, rehab, LTC, ALF.
OP;

Your comments are eternally true. Reports should be succinct and cover only the salient highlights. Old news is only valid as it relates to future care in most instances.

Very often what's deemed important or noteworthy is subjective and in the eye of the off-going nurse but nonetheless mostly irrelevant for the on-coming one.

Once when I was giving the A.M. nurse report, I thought that I was being appropriately informative but mercifully brief so as not to leave her any unexpected surprises. After report was over and her being the East Indian, lovely, English accented nurse that she was said, 'Well, thanks for the report, it was nice chit-chatting with you."

"Chit Chat" I thought. So much for taking myself too seriously about inconsequential things ever again.

But later on I thought what a great technique for getting someone (like me) to cut to the chase without saying "just the facts ma'am."

That's nicer than the ICU nurses I worked with as a student. They would sigh, roll their eyes, or cut me off and start asking their own questions. Or sometimes they would just ignore me and look at my preceptor, as if they were expecting him/her to give report instead.

I eventually learned how to give them exactly what they wanted, and not an ounce more...if only to avoid the embarrassment of receiving more reactions like that. :cautious:

Me, personally? I want the details. Tell me everything you know about them, even if you think it's "too much." But that's just me. :bookworm:

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