When Giving Report Please....

Nurses General Nursing

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Everyone has an opinion on the best way to give report, and opinions on what not to do. I like to believe that most of the time I do a good job. There are days where things just do not flow well, and I do not win report giving awards. That said, I always try to be respectful of the oncoming shift when giving report. I think it is important to mentally put yourself in their shoes (or think back 12 hours...) so you give the report in a manner in which you wish to receive it.

So I'd like this thread to be a sort of feedback for report giving. It can even be a dumping ground for things that irritate you while getting report. All positive and negative comments can teach us something, and I am constantly trying to improve.

So I'll start, with more of a dumping versus a positive uplifting.

We have a nurse that tells you NOTHING in report, to sum it up it goes something like this: You have a patient in room xx, Any questions? Obviously he/she says other things, what he/she does say however is usually superfluous. Granted report is really short, guess that gives me plenty of time to figure out all that I needed to know.

Okay I will leave it at that and let everyone else chime in. For now.

Specializes in PICU.

In ICU we do head to toe reporting. In fact it feels odd if you do have the same person back and the patient is low acuity and you report quickly or report by exception. We get done in 30 minutes for 1-2 patients. But sometimes longer depending on if report gets interrupted by patient needs (air goes in and out, blood goes round and round) or how sick the patient is (more details due to many events, trips, procedures during the shift).

Personally, my biggest pet peeve is when I get interrupted for questions. There are a couple people that I anticipate this for and I've learned how to kind of handle it but it still really gets on my nerves. Ex: Me: "Patient is (age), weighs (blank) kg, and has no allergies....They were admitted 2 days ago for respiratory distress." Other RN: "Wait how old?" Me: (repeat the age) Other RN: "And when were they admitted". Me: (Repeat information) Other RN: "OK, are they still on Epi?" Me: (Facepalm). I either keep talking (especially after I have redirected them several times) or I have to stop them and say "let me finish report, if you have questions at the end we can go over it, but I'M GETTING THERE!" Basically, listen first, please!

If the patient is being discharged or sent out first thing in the morning (like an 0830 pick up) please give me a detailed report. I am going to have to rely on your report to call report on this patient. Of course I am going to do my own (quick) assessment, but I'm not going to have time to delve into the chart and look up the history, drug allergies, why they are on contact isolation, the last time they received blood, etc. By the time I am finished getting report on all my patients, eyeball them, and get the patient ready to go, I have to call report, not to mention all the meds I have to pass to the others by 10am. If the patient is being discharged home early in the morning and you didn't pull the PICC line (for the hx of IV drug use pt!) or do any teaching, I am pretty much going to rage. I think planned discharges during the 9am med pass should be banned outright, but that's another gripe.

1. Don't interrupt me mid-sentence. If you already KNOW, what I'm about to say then I'll clock out and go home since you know every thing.

2. Just give me pertinent info. I don't need all the extra crap.

3. Arrive on time for report as I do for you.

I don't want to know every dose of insulin in the las 24 hors and what they had for snacks, especially if they are going home this morning.

I work 11p-7a...what amazes me is the morning nurses (one or 2 in particular) that when I give the HS blood sugar will ask me what last nights dinner sugar was also - really? I wasn't here for that - I only care about the HS and whether or not my patient will wake up low and need a juice in the middle of the night!

Specializes in geriatrics.
Do you come in early to participate in these epic reports? 15 minutes is the paid report part of the shift. I don't work for free.

Exactly. Unless there is something pertinent to discuss, report should not take longer than 15 minutes. The oncoming nurse wants to get started with their work, the offgoing wants to go home.

Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

Report gets trickly when you have a pt more than 10 days. That's a frequent occurrence at my hospital.

What they're admitted with, is no longer what's wrong.

A high maintainance patient/family alert is vital.

Also give me a heads up if the guy in 601 is going to grab anything in reach:nono:. Or the confused pts who want to HURT me.

I usually taylor my report to the nurse I'm giving it to.

I can be chatty, or not. I'm good at reading body language and nonverbal clues.

I just want to know who they are (ie: 43 year old female) where they are (room 345A), why they are here, do they move and if so how (ie: walker) when they were last medicated for pain and then just give me the weird stuff (BP in the toilet? Feeling nauseated?) and interventions (if she sits at bedside for a few minutes, she is better). And if there's anything that needs to be done that hasn't. Otherwise, I am going to review orders, and do a shift assessment.

Specializes in Medical-Surgical Nursing.

I'm about to start on an RN job and the director made it clear that they do bedside reporting.

Can you give me tips on how not to make it awkward in front of the patient and also as occasional, in front of family members. :)

We do taped reporting at my facility and it's touch and go with whether it's good or not depending on the nurse. It drives me crazy when the previous shift assumes I have met the patient before and so they report nothing more than "pt is the same" or "pt is good." When I tape, I always just tape assuming they haven't cared for the pt before. I make sure to relay how they take their meds, incisional sites, lung sounds, labs, appts, etc. I make sure to relay important information that the previous staff wanted passed on as well. Even if it's more information than what may be necessary, I always love getting too much rather than not enough in report so I know I am prepared for what I am about to walk into. Starting a shift off with a terrible report just leads to chaos..

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
Starting a shift off with a terrible report just leads to chaos..

You're not kidding... Once I worked a shift in an LTACH where I got NO report. Literally, none. I had been doing a behavioral 1:1 in the ICU and got pulled to take a 5-pt assignment. The RN went AWOL after being told she must comply with the facility's flu season mask rule for the unvax'ed... Oh my, I've never felt so clueless and out of sorts in my life. So much that two yrs later I'm venting about it on AN... :madface:

Usually how we do it is pt's name, age, date admitted, dx, and a quick ROS. I do like to know about pertinent labs--was their K+ replaced on PM's? Hgb been trending down? ABG look particularly poopy at the end of today's pressure support trial? I like to know IF they did a PS trial today and how it went...our SICU NP will almost certainly ask me for this info in the a.m., and not all of our RTs write good notes. If it's a neuro pt I like to do an exam together. Many times if we don't do this, my first exam will seem different than what I understood the last RN's to be, and then I will be worried and calling neurosurg. So much easier to do the exam together and have the offgoing RN tell me "This is what he's been doing," or "here's a change." I like a heads up if there are complicated family dynamics, if unauthorized people have been calling wanting info, if Dad is estranged and not allowed updates.

It goes faster than I'm making it sound; usually we're able to get through 2 pts in 20-30 min. If we've had the same pts for a few days in a row though, we'll just discuss changes.

Specializes in NICU.

Fiona59, our reports are planned and paid for 30 minutes and is reflected in our schedules. Each facility has a different way of doing things.

I hate taped report. I like to know why they are here, and anything relevant to care, like if they get up, are confused, deaf, blind, etc. If they have anything unusual, tell me. I don't care about all the allergies, I can read. I don't care about the diet, I can read. I don't care about what antibiotics they are on, I can read. I do care about anything the doctor has made a fuss over or requested above the norm. I do care if they are DNR, and if their DNR form is COMPLETE! I personally don't care to know the exact time they had pain meds, just in general. I'm gonna look anyway.

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