Taped report vs. verbal report

[deespoohbear]

I was wondering what form of report your facility uses. I work on a general med-surg floor. Up until about 2 years ago, we had taped report. Then the higher ups in the nursing mangement decided that we would give verbal reports at our nursing "mods." Of course the three nurses who made this decision do not work the floor and did not ask for input from the nurses who do work the floor. The verbal reports are really difficult to get through at 3 p.m. The phone rings non-stop, ancillary departments are taking the charts that we need to read orders on and families are constantly at the desks asking for stuff. It has taken over an hour to get through report for 6 patients sometimes!! Plus, the total lack of privacy we have at report time is incredible. Anyone could hear what we are talking about, even if we are using our lowest voices. The problems we were running into with were taped report was that the next shift was not getting into the report room and starting report right away. They would sit around and gab and not start report until after 3 sometimes!! I was just wondering how many of you use verbal reports, and how many use taped reports. What do you see as the pros and cons to each. Plus does anyone have any suggestions on how to make verbal reports go smoother with less interruptions? Thanks for your input.

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

We have a separate room for the tape recorder and this provides privacy. Verbals tend to take longer on our unit because people get involved with social issues (he said/she said). We start report promptly at a specified time. If you are not there the door is closed and you missed report. The off-going staff makes sure report is started on time and will "write up" the on-coming if they fail to start on time. After a reasonable amount of time has passed (depends on census) the off -going staff will begin to listen in via the intercom to see if report is finished. Another write up if you are just sitting there gabbing. AFTER report, any pertinient or new info is given to the charge nurse and primary nurse. We all get in trouble with the boss if we don't leave on time as they don't want to pay overtime. This works most of the time. No one wants to stay longer than necessary.