Worst information given in shift report!!!

Nurses General Nursing

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What has been some of the worst information you've ever been given during shift report on your patients? Don't you just hate hearing "i don't know" or "i'm not really sure" when it comes to essential information like last BM, last BS on a diabetic patient or I & O's (especially on surgical patients)?

Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

You know what sends me off the chain?.... When I get a transfer from the hospital and they are on antibiotics and the transfering nurse has no idea. They have been taking care of them and giving the med for ,how long now.

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I have been guilty of omissions during report, for one reason or the other. I have been known to call work on my cell phone or from home, to fill in a blank or two I forgot. I am sure as much complaining as I can do about others' report, they can do about mine. We all get busy and forget things. I look at charts at the start of shift, anyhow, to be sure I know what all is going on and not to miss any physician orders/tx that are important.

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.
All of that information can be found on the chart. It just drives me nuts when report drones on and on because we are giving I&O, IV credits, BMs, etc. If there is something abnormal about that information, fine, tell us in report...otherwise, if we need to know, we can look it up.

Alright I was thinking that too...I'm like am I wrong ok whew...I agree the abnormal tell. Same with labs abnormal. I'll somtimes get all this info but not that the hr had been 135bpm all day and was new.

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.
I hate when I come out of report armed with the knowledge that Mom changed her shirt twice and Dad owns a restaurant but only findin gout 4 hours into this shift that baby has a critcal white count... Just one example... We had a nurse that would go on and on about the stupidest things and then gloss over or skip need-to-know assessments, labs, etc. The aide and I would crack up during taped report and fast forward through most of it, or I would just zone out and hope I didn't miss the one important detail she gave!

I think sometimes nurses who do this cover up not doing their own work or necesary investigation or are just plain clueless. Well one I know who is manipulative if she's leaving a lot of work for next shift it's "oh..i've sucha a h/a." I don't fall for it for a SEC!!! Or the clueless one when I ask about assessment or tests..."well you know how she (pt) gets her skin so soft...egg whites." :uhoh3:

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.
I have been guilty of omissions during report, for one reason or the other. I have been known to call work on my cell phone or from home, to fill in a blank or two I forgot. I am sure as much complaining as I can do about others' report, they can do about mine. We all get busy and forget things. I look at charts at the start of shift, anyhow, to be sure I know what all is going on and not to miss any physician orders/tx that are important.

True and I call work at times too back. It's just when I remember something 3 days later hmmm...

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.
You know what sends me off the chain?.... When I get a transfer from the hospital and they are on antibiotics and the transfering nurse has no idea. They have been taking care of them and giving the med for ,how long now.
I totally get your point but it reminded me of a situation even though hospital staff nurse try to take the same pts doesn't allways work like that. Maybe you are talking about transfering from hospital to another facility but it reminds me of transfering to a nursing home and wanted to explain something.

I generally try to do 3 day chunks. For those 3 days I'll usually keep the same pts. Then off then back again my section isl and almost allways is different due to where previous nurses have been. And if people from days stays they keep their main pts and the next shift fills other sections. Also sometimes if we are short staff or even if fully staffed but more if short we have lots of perdiems that will only be there for a day. Back to my point a NH nurse called our unit asking about the usual norm of a pt transfered that morning to the NH. I didn't recognize the pt and noone on my shift had her or had her the last several days. I had been off the weekend as was the charge nurse (and the pt left before we were on so no report on her at all) and the others were perdiem. The NH nurse when I explained noone here recognized her and asked what I could do she said "you've had her all this time you mean noone remembers anything about her? She's been there a week" NO! Then the charge nurse explained exactly what I explained.

Sorry that's not refuting you're post at all just reminded me of this situation and that we as hosptial nurses do not stay with a pt as lengthy as more perminent residents even if pt's do stay a week or 2.

Specializes in LTC/Rehab,Med/Surg, OB/GYN, Ortho, Neuro.

We used tape our reports, but that was taking too long (over 30 min for 7 pts one time), so we switched to verbal reports. It still takes forever :banghead: One problem is that we have a couple of doctors that make rounds right at shift change at night, and wants the nurse(s) to make rounds with him, then writes a page or more of orders (in a handwriting that is still hard to read at times and gets mad when you stop him to go over the orders; although, I've learned to say "Dr. so and so, can you go over these orders with me really quick, so that I make sure I get them right and I don't have to call you at two in the morning when I'm doing chart checks?"). The other problem is that everyone wants to either gossip or give you minute by minute run downs of the pts day. I DON'T CARE UNLESS IT'S PERTINENT. Anyway, we chart by exception, so that's how I give report. I'll talk about the diagnosis and any abnormalities. It does help when you have your days scheduled together, and you and the opposite nurse share the same pt. There have been plenty of times that I've said SSDD (especially lately, we have a couple of pts that have been on the floor [med-surg] for a couple of months now and a few evacuees since Katrina).

Oh, lordy, my prize would go to the sweet young thing who didn't really know much about the new patient in Room X, but the patient was probably depressed and withdrawn and wouldn't talk to her when SYT RN admitted her.

The patient was bright eyed and greeted me with a smile. I greeted her and pulled down the sheet to listen to heart and lungs and discovered a contracted right arm. Further inspection also turned up a flaccid right leg with foot drop. I asked if her stroke had been over a year ago and she nodded. She followed commands and gave appropriate yes/no answers through nod/shake.

The patient wasn't withdrawn. She was aphasic. The worst part about all this is that it was supposedly a neuro unit and SYT RN was a regular staff member who had been there for over 6 months.

Second prize would be for a report on a new patient in Room B, different hospital, who came in for terminal care, had a DNR and living will, and would probably expire within the next two days or so. When I went in to examine hiim, he was not only expired but cold and stiff and in a position that was going to make it a challenge to get him onto a gurney and down to the morgue.

There have been others, of course, reports that missed drips and tubes and external pacemakers and such, but those are the two that stand out as the worst reports of all time for me.

Specializes in LTC, sub-acute, urology, gastro.
I hate to give report when the on coming shift doesn't listen and they want to do all of the talking themselves. In the past, I have had to just keep talking right over the on coming nurse who was busy blabbing during my report. I am sure she missed some important information by not listening.That was her choice. It is so rude when the next shift doesn't have sense enough to sit down, shut up and listen to report.:madface: :nono:

I do the same thing - I tell them I'm ready to give report & just start it...my shift ends at 3PM but I give the 3-11 nurses until 3:15 to count narcs & do rounds which isn't hard since 95% of the residents are in the dining room. When I'm ready I just start talking (actually reading from our "report book") - if they miss something they'll have to look it up!

Specializes in LTC, sub-acute, urology, gastro.
I have been guilty of omissions during report, for one reason or the other. I have been known to call work on my cell phone or from home, to fill in a blank or two I forgot. I am sure as much complaining as I can do about others' report, they can do about mine. We all get busy and forget things. I look at charts at the start of shift, anyhow, to be sure I know what all is going on and not to miss any physician orders/tx that are important.

Done that too! When it happens I always have the feeling that I'm not including something & what it is always hits me on the way home (cell phones are great somethimes!):)

Specializes in Med/Surg.

We do taped report. One nurse we have takes as long as 25 minutes when reporting on 5 pts. She goes in to detail about everything. Our nurse manager has talked to her and so have the other nurses. She still continues to give very lengthy reports. We now have to try to get in there and tape report before she does or else we end up given verbal because the other nurse don't want to have to wait for her report to finish. :uhoh3:

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