I have been a registered nurse for over 4 years now in Med-Surg. I have given and received hand off report countless of times at this point in my nursing career.
The other day, I was just thinking about the types of hand off report I get from Night Shift nurses and I am often left with quick reports.
Is anyone else experiencing this?
I come to the floor… and most nights nurses are ready to go home… when I approach them to relieve them from their shift. They provide a quick report, so quick that they jump around and don’t provide details such as patient’s ambulating status, skin problems, IV sites, last BM. When I inquired, they say: they don’t know, or they forgot to ask.
On the other hand, when I am giving hand off report to evening nurses, I am the one looking for them in the floor. I feel disrespected because I am looking for them! Sometimes, they go into their assigned patients rooms to do their assessments and I have to kindly remind them that I need to give them report so I can go home.
I get a long pretty well with my co-workers but I am wondering if I am being passive or not assertive at all. Because quietly frankly, I feel disrespected by both shifts in different ways.
ER handoff report - “patient in 3 has back pain, waiting on toradol and discharge, patient in 4 had a bad COPD flare, on bipap, sats are good, waiting on a bed”
Thanks for your input from the ED. You definitely made me laugh because you write and respond like most ED nurses would.
I have to be honest… we picked on those quick reports because of our preceptors.
I still consider myself a somehow new nurse with 3 years of experience.
All of the preceptors that I have had, have mentioned to me to make sure that I get a “good report” because ED nurses just want to “dump” patients really quick in the Med-Surg floor, or need an empty bed in the ED. So I have been told to check quickly in the system, that vital signs look somehow stable and ordered from the ED were completed. It is the way tje teach us and trained us…
In my experience, I have had reports from ED were V.Lactate/Troponins were not drawn but they were ordered. Or elder patient was really drowsy and I spend my last two hours of my shift giving Narcan because my elderly patient got too many opioids in the ED.
But, what I mean… is that we learn from our preceptors to ask questions, demand to ask if patient has an IV, a Foley, oxygen, because report can be too quick sometimes.
I have one particular ED nurse who doesn’t call to give me report and just brings the patients in.
I never give ED nurses trouble or ask questions. I get the point of transferring patients quickly because someone else needs the bed. I get it.
PeachTea7, BSN
41 Posts
Thanks for your input from the ED. You definitely made me laugh because you write and respond like most ED nurses would.
I have to be honest… we picked on those quick reports because of our preceptors.
I still consider myself a somehow new nurse with 3 years of experience.
All of the preceptors that I have had, have mentioned to me to make sure that I get a “good report” because ED nurses just want to “dump” patients really quick in the Med-Surg floor, or need an empty bed in the ED. So I have been told to check quickly in the system, that vital signs look somehow stable and ordered from the ED were completed. It is the way tje teach us and trained us…
In my experience, I have had reports from ED were V.Lactate/Troponins were not drawn but they were ordered. Or elder patient was really drowsy and I spend my last two hours of my shift giving Narcan because my elderly patient got too many opioids in the ED.
But, what I mean… is that we learn from our preceptors to ask questions, demand to ask if patient has an IV, a Foley, oxygen, because report can be too quick sometimes.
I have one particular ED nurse who doesn’t call to give me report and just brings the patients in.
I never give ED nurses trouble or ask questions. I get the point of transferring patients quickly because someone else needs the bed. I get it.