Discussion

Question about giving report

Sep 28, 201213 yr

So I am not a new SN, and I understand how busy the primaries are so I try to keep my reports as short and sweet as possible. When I give report I highlight abnormal data, keep everything as fast as possible, and alert the primary to any changes in condition. This is the purpose of report yes?

A few days ago I was giving report to a GN in training (with the primary) and she asked me questions about the pts stable vitals and then asked me if I had woken the pt up to rate her pain after receiving an iv push med. All I could say was, "Well no, because the primary gave the med, she's been in pain all day long, and is now resting comfortable which I felt was a good indication that the pain is now in a tolerable range, and the med was just given 20 mins ago."

She gave me a look and I have a good feeling that she's going to rattle off to someone else that I didn't come prepared with all of her stable vitals or wake her to rate pain. So this leads me to my next question - if you have a stable pt do you need to rattle off vitals in a normal range? Isn't the purpose of report (as an SN, not as a primary) to alert the primaries to anything you might see throughout your abbreviated shift?

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Sep 28, 201213 yr

Report is to pass along information the next shift needs. Do they need to know stable vitals? Probably not, but since you're still a student, you might want to give more information. Perhaps being a student you don't know what might be important.Seems to me what you DO know is that it's not necessary to wake someone up to check their level of pain.

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Sep 28, 201213 yr

Author

Report is to pass along information the next shift needs. Do they need to know stable vitals? Probably not, but since you're still a student, you might want to give more information. Perhaps being a student you don't know what might be important.Seems to me what you DO know is that it's not necessary to wake someone up to check their level of pain.

I think that's what ended up throwing me off. We're taught to reassess 30 mins after giving meds but the time frame hadn't passed and it seemed to me that waking her would have been ill advised to ask how she was feeling. I was a little thrown off by her reaction and wondered if there was something I had missed. I am fairly observant so I note that in the a.m. when listening in to shift reports the primaries are handing off information that is vital to the pts condition and care.

Of course it might have just been me as I was feeling a little off that day and might have been feeling a little hypersensitive but I am trying to be cognizant of the primaries time.

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Sep 28, 201213 yr

Experts

I just state that the vital signs were stable.That's all.

If a patient then that is your assessment.Pt sleeping comfortably.You don't wake them up to ask them about pain.

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Sep 29, 201213 yr

What idiot wakes someone up in the middle of the night to assess their pain. Good for you for using your head and common sense.

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Sep 29, 201213 yr

I feel sorry for all the patients she'll be waking up to ask if they're pain is ok.

If it were me in the hospital? I'd request a new nurse for sure.

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Sep 29, 201213 yr

I still have nightmares about some of the reports I gave during my floor days. When telling the nurse "pt is afebrile", then being asked "what do you mean, what was the temp" (yes, she knew the term). I swear, there were nurses who wanted every detail, normal, abnormal, or otherwise. Read the chart!!!

Yes, it is possible, that as a student (new or not, you're still a student, and she is likely not in a position to determine how good of a student you are, of she is a new grad), she wanted to make sure you could decider what stable was (I want specific #s... But I am the instructor). It is also possible that the reviewing nurse is a bit insecure and paranoid about her abilities, and wants to make sure she doesn't miss a thing. New nurses are still trying to perfect the art of taking report.

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Sep 29, 201213 yr

I still have nightmares about some of the reports I gave during my floor days. When telling the nurse "pt is afebrile", then being asked "what do you mean, what was the temp" (yes, she knew the term). I swear, there were nurses who wanted every detail, normal, abnormal, or otherwise. Read the chart!!!
Yes, it is possible, that as a student (new or not, you're still a student, and she is likely not in a position to determine how good of a student you are, of she is a new grad), she wanted to make sure you could decider what stable was (I want specific #s... But I am the instructor). It is also possible that the reviewing nurse is a bit insecure and paranoid about her abilities, and wants to make sure she doesn't miss a thing. New nurses are still trying to perfect the art of taking report.

This is my pet peeve. I'm happy to tell the upcoming nurse of any abnormal lab value, but when they ask me what every single lab value is??? Ugh!! look it up like I did. Needless to say I work the day shift. Then when I tell them that I don't know exact #, however I know it's WNL, they tell me not to worry they'll look it up. Really?

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