Would love some input in rolling out bedside report

OyWithThePoodles, RN · Apr 14, 2016

Not a mother/baby nurse, but:

We do bedside report on our unit. We talk about the things that we don't want the pt hearing (mass could be ca, md hasn't informed them yet, etc) prior to going in and then do bedside. I like it but it honestly depends on the nurse I am handing off to. If they give a 30 minute report on something that could've taken 3 at most, I am sure the pt sees my frustration. If they ask me a million questions like "Do they have tele, accu-checks", etc, after I give report I want to scream "DID I SAY THEY HAD THOSE? NO, OKAY THEN, THEY DON'T!"

One of our other floors uses kardexes and I personally hate them. I have my own personalized sheet I use with the info that I need. When I float to the other unit I always feel like I have no freaking clue what is going on with my pts. I need to write the info down myself to truly process it, I guess.

Having had three babies in the last three years, in a hospital that does bedside report, I will say this. Don't. I will be grumpy. Lab just came in at 0500, breakfast will be in at 0800, and that isn't counting the times the baby was nursing or crying. New moms NEED their rest. A report at the desk and a quick pop-of-head in the door is sufficient for me.

On the day of my DC I had the nurse manager come in and ask if my nurses had been doing bedside reporting the whole time I was there. I lied and told her yes, because there were a couple of times where they just did a quick pop-in, but I appreciated it.

FineAgain · Apr 14, 2016

The best way to "roll out bedside report"? Roll it right on out the door and don't start. Seriously.

knitnurseuk · Apr 14, 2016

We give handover at bedside and I feel that it does compromise patient confidentiality as most patients don't have private rooms so the whole bay overhears the conversation.

I once overheard a patient giving someone on the phone a blow by blow account of other patients' condition, which made me feel very uncomfortable.

We do share 'sensitive' information outside the room but who are we to decide what information is sensitive or not.

MrNurse(x2), ADN · Apr 14, 2016

Sounds like you like bedside report for YOUR satisfaction.
Which patients are "happy to hear what is going on"? Are they not already informed , regarding their progress and care throughout your shift?

My clientele is mostly upper middle class and proactive in their health, it is why I stay there, yes, the patients enjoy the report. I have worked in communities where the patients may feel burdened. This is a patient centered initiative and our satisfaction scores have gone up after implementing it. Expand your mind a little and accept that maybe your narrow, opinionated view of something may be wrong.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 18, 2016

How to roll out bedside report? My best answer is don't. Patients don't really need the interruptions, visitors don't really need the information and you don't really need the aggravation.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Apr 18, 2016

My clientele is mostly upper middle class and proactive in their health, it is why I stay there, yes, the patients enjoy the report. I have worked in communities where the patients may feel burdened. This is a patient centered initiative and our satisfaction scores have gone up after implementing it. Expand your mind a little and accept that maybe your narrow, opinionated view of something may be wrong.

Bedside report is FAR from a patient centered initiative. Bedside report is an administrative effort to satisfy CMS scores for reimbursement.

I have quite the expanded mind after 30 years at the bedside.

In my mind.. the patient needs rest and privacy. Screw CMS and administration's games.

Perhaps your "upper middle class clientele".. has different needs.

Trauma_drama14, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Apr 18, 2016

I work in SICU at a big level one trauma center. We "started" bedside reporting butI have yet to actually do it. We also explain to the patients our hourly rounding and that we are supposed to sign a piece of paper, etc. most of our patients are tubed and sedated, so we can't really even do it in their because they aren't with it and also... As for the family, a lot of them as PIAs and you don't want to talk about some info in front of them... Same goes for PIA patients. I also like to write everything down and I feel like we aren't really able to do that. 99 percent of our nurses don't do bedside report lol

Boomer MS, RN · Apr 18, 2016

How to roll out bedside report? My best answer is don't. Patients don't really need the interruptions, visitors don't really need the information and you don't really need the aggravation.

This is funny! How true.

APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP · Apr 18, 2016

My facility utilizes bedside report in a uniform manner throughout each floor, including Mother Baby.

The purpose of bedside report for our hospital is to introduce the patient to the oncoming nurse, and to discuss pertinent information, as appropriate, at the bedside to allow the patient to participate in their care.

It is considered inappropriate to discuss obviously sensitive information at the bedside, and the off-going nurse is a good judge of what the patient will desire (in most cases).

As with any tool, the blind use without allowing the RN to use their critical thinking to determine how to best implement on each case is the wrong way to use the tool.

Boomer MS, RN · Apr 19, 2016

0We will be starting bedside report (again) soon on our Mother Baby unit. Presently, we give report at the nurses station and each nurse transcribes this information onto their "own" report worksheet. This sheet is a personalized fill-in the-blank that each nurse carries with them throughout their shift. Soon they want a written kardex type sheet to be started by the unit secretary and updated and recopied to be used as a bedside handoff. They are not suggesting we use the EMR we presently document in. Management no longer wants to see nurses giving report at the nurses station and then going into the room to introduce the new nurse.
How do other Mother Baby units handle bedside report?
Every nurse organizes themself differently. No one uses the same report worksheet and many will now be recopying to their own sheet after report. How do you handle transfer of sensitive information? Some of our patients don't want their significant other to know they have a history of HSV or a previous pregnancy. Patients are sleeping frequently after being up breast feeding an infant all day or night and may not want this report to awaken them.
Our unit has tried this before and it has not worked. I would appreciate any input from other Mother Baby unit or nursing units on how bedside report is handled on your floor. Thanks!

For the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone, specifically management/PTB, would promote this. Yes, I hear the arguments about reimbursement and having the patient "involved" in the plan of care. To me, however, it is commonsense to let a patient rest and meet his/her needs by performing appropriate nursing care. All the more reason to let the patient rest since inpatients are so much sicker today than years ago. This is anecdotal, but six years when I was hospitalized, I felt horrible and did not want anyone in my room, except the necessary staff. I hated it when someone would ask over and over, "Is there anything else I can do you?" It sounded scripted and disingenuous. I passed on those comments, as well as the complimentary ones about my nursing care. No one listens! I have felt powerless.

Boomer MS, RN · Apr 19, 2016

I understand what you are saying, but there is another way to introduce the oncoming nurse. All this shucking and jiving makes me giggle, as if someone is always trying to reinvent the wheel.