Running head: NURSE TO NURSE BEDSIDE REPORTING
Nurse to Nurse Bedside Reporting
Sarah Knoll
March 24, 2013
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NURSE TO NURSE BEDSIDE REPORTING
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Nurse to Nurse Bedside Reporting
Change of shift report is unique to the nursing profession. Nurse-to nurse reporting when
handing off a patient is essential to providing good patient care and improving collaboration gaps
between day and night shifts. It is the time when essential information is exchanged between
nurses regarding patient history, assessment, treatment and plan. A way to further improve this
communication is bedside nurse-to-nurse report. This paper will discuss articles that explain
benefits of this process as well as the innovation and rationale involved in making the change. It
discuss articles that explain possible barriers and how to get beyond them. The information
provided about this change will show that it promotes patient safety and benefits the patient, staff
and the organization. This paper will also discuss the negative components to bedside reporting
as well and possible ways to resolve these inhibitors.
“Implementing Nurse-to-Nurse Bedside Report in the Birth Center” provides insight into
the miscommunication errors that can happen in the medical field. This article gives an
overview of the errors that took place when nurses were doing report away from the patient.
This article is very much in favor of nurse to nurse reporting at the bedside.
This article also
discusses the importance of nurse-patient rapport and how bedside reporting will help facilitate
this. This article is specific to introducing bedside reporting in the birth center versus an overall
encompassing approach to all areas of nursing.
“Transforming Care at the Bedside” looks deeper into the art of nursing and how nurse
satisfaction will improve care and overall morale. This article discusses nursing on the national
level and how nurses, regardless of location, all share a commonality. The article goes on to
explore how nurses have the power to change the nursing profession as a whole and introduce
positive transformations for themselves and the patients they care for. Although this article may
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not look directly at bedside reporting the information is relevant as it touches on a nurses ability
to shape the nursing role at the bedside.
“Bedside Report: Improving Patient Safety” was of particular interest as this describes
the key motive behind bedside reporting: patient safety. This article goes on to discuss the
standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditations of Healthcare Organizations and the
necessity for a standardized approach for communication amongst healthcare providers. Of
importance, this article also reminds nurses of the influence that they will have on the next shift.
There is a direct correlate mentioned in this notation about bedside reporting and decreased
errors and incidents.
“Improving Patient Satisfaction with Nursing Communication Using Bedside Shift
Report” looks at the works of Nursing Theorists Peplau and Lewin and their thoughts about
nurses responsibility to patients and change within the nursing field. This offered concrete,
historical information that can be implemented today. Nursing is a profession of skill and
knowledge that should be exercised to assist patients. Nurses have a short time to gain their
patients respect and act as their advocate. There is work to be done to perfect the nurse-patient
relationship.
“Bedside Shift Report Improves Patient Safety and Nurse Accountability” stresses the
importance of nurse responsibility to patient safety. This article is eloquently summed up in the
following notation, “Even greater are the numbers of preventable errors that do not result in
death but lead to acute or chronic illness, injury, and/or disability. Financial costs from errors are
also substantial and include lost income, reduced productivity, increased health care costs, and
inflated health insurance premiums.” Nurses have a responsibility to patients for ensuring
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satisfaction and safety and this article does a fine job reminding nurses to think twice when
providing patient care.
“Bedside Shift Report Ensures Quality Handoff” offers another approach to looking at
nurse to nurse reporting. This focuses on how the nurse giving report prepares themselves to
give report to another nurse. How one manages their time and manufactures their report for the
next shift. Preparedness, efficiency, and organization will assist the nurse in getting through
shift change in a timely and efficient manner.
“Incorporating Bedside Reporting into Change-of-Shift Report” discusses the importance
of improving communication between shifts to better serve the patient. This also discusses the
importance of allowing patients to be active in their own care and ask questions or offer
information when talking to the next shift. This article also discusses the difficulty to changing
to this type of patient reporting from the more traditional audiotaped or private conversation
between two nurses. This article appreciates both stances of traditional reporting and bedside
reporting.
“Make it a Habit: 2 weeks to Bedside Report” offers an interesting approach to a
cardiovascular unit that did a two week trial on bedside reporting in comparison to traditional
nurse to nurse reporting. This looked at staff and patient satisfaction as well as patient outcomes.
This article again touched on the importance of standardized reporting amongst nurses to offer a
uniform approach to how information is clearly and concisely passed on at shift change. This
offers both positive and negative drawbacks to bedside reporting.
“One Less Bell to Answer: Improving Clinical Outcomes in an Assisted Living Facility
with Bedside Shift Reports and Hourly Rounds” offers a reward to nurses for bedside reporting
and more frequent rounding on patients. This proves a direct correlate between the nurse
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spending more time at the bedside and the reduction of patient call lights. For any nurse, this
article is of particular interest as it gives a solution to the pesky call light. This article focuses on
how to reduce incidences but regular rounding on patients opposed to vitals and assessments
every four hours. This article focuses primarily in favor of bedside reporting.
“Making the Transition to Nursing Bedside Shift Reports” offers helpful hints in making
the transition to bedside reporting. This is not always an easy task and acknowledges that this
will likely be a struggle for many nurses. This article discusses the hardships as well as the
importance of implementing this change for patient care.
This article also offers statistical
information reported by patients and their response to this new form of reporting.
These articles in conjunction with several other resources and personal experience will
offer insight into the topic of nurse to nurse bedside reporting. This information will not only be
beneficial for the purposes of this class but for all nurses as the state of nursing becomes more
standardized in our efforts to provide quality care to patients and their families. Nurses should
be educated when it comes to these changes and be armed with information before forming
opinions and biases.
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References
Alvin, J. (2010). Implementing Nurse-to-Nurse Bedside Report in the Birth Center. JOGNN:
Journal Of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 39S6. doi:http://0dx.doi.org.libcat.ferris.edu/10.1111/j.1552-6909.2010.01117.x. Retrieved from CINAHL
database.
Baker, S. (2010). Bedside shift report improves patient safety and nurse accountability. Journal
of Emergency Nursing, 36, 355-358. Retrieved from
http://baylorirvinged.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/bedsidereport.pdf
Barra, M., & Guttman, M. (2012). One less bell to answer: improving clinical outcomes in an
assisted living facility with bedside shift reports and hourly rounds. UPNAAI Nursing
Journal, 8(1), 19. Retrieved from CINAHL database.
Carlson, S. (2013). Make it a habit: 2 weeks to bedside report. Nursing Management, 44 (3)
pp.52 -54. doi:10.1097/01.NUMA.0000427193.45066.44. Retrieved from Pubmed
database.
Dearmon, V., Rousell, L., Buckner, E. B., Mulekar, M., Pomrenke, B., Salas, S., Mosley, A.,
Brown, S. and Brown, A. (2012), Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB): Enhancing
Direct Care and Value-added Care. Journal of Nursing Management. doi:
10.1111/j.1365-2834.2012.01412.x. Retrieved from Pubmed database.
Federwisch, A. (2007). Bedside shift report ensures quality handoff. Retrieved from
http://news.nurse.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007710080354
Laws, D. and Amato, S. (2010), Incorporating Bedside Reporting into Change-of-Shift Report.
Rehabilitation Nursing, 35: 70–74. doi: 10.1002/j.2048-7940.2010.tb00034.x. Retrieved
from CINAHL database.
NURSE TO NURSE BEDSIDE REPORTING
Maltman, S., DiRico, E., & Monachino, A. (2007). Bedside report: improving patient safety.
Journal Of Pediatric Nursing, 22(2), 146. Retrieved from CINAHL database.
Radke, K. (2013). Improving Patient Satisfaction With Nursing Communication Using Bedside
Shift Report. Journal of Clinical Nurse Specialists, 17(1), pp 19-25. doi:
10.1097/NUR.0b013e3182777011. Retrieved from Pubmed database.
Wakefield, D., Ragan, R., Brandt, J., & Tregnago, M. (2012). Making the Transition to Nursing
Bedside Shift Reports. Joint Commission Journal On Quality & Patient Safety, 38(6),
243-253. Retrieved from CINAHL database.
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