bedside shift report: implications for patient safety and quality of care

Bedside shift report (BSR) enables accurate and timely communication between nurses, includes the patient in care, and is paramount to the delivery of safe, high quality care. Hospital leaders and healthcare organizations are making concentrated efforts to change their environments to assure patient safety and patient and nurse satisfaction.

Full Answer

Why is bedside report so important?

Nurses have raised some concerns when it comes to BSR, namely:

• unknown visitors or family in the room
• disclosure of new diagnoses or lab information that a healthcare provider hasn't yet discussed with patient
• patient sleeping
• patient unable to participate due to cognitive or sensory limitations
• questions from patient that need lengthy clarification, increasing report time

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What is bedside shift report?

• Nurse Bedside Shift Report: What is it? ...
• Bedside Shift Report Checklist -- Checklist that highlights the elements required to complete bedside shift report. ...
• Nurse Bedside Shift Report Training -- Slides and talking points used to train nurses to conduct a bedside shift report and to help them understand how to engage patients and ...

Why is bedside shift report?

Shift report, when completed at the patient bedside, allows the nurse to visualize and assess the patient and the environment, as well as communicate with and involve the patient in the plan of care. Bedside shift report (BSR) enables accurate and timely communication between nurses, includes the patient in care, and is paramount to the delivery of safe, high quality care.

What is shift to shift report?

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How does bedside shift report improve patient safety?

It puts patients at the center of communication and permits them to collaborate and participate in their own recovery. Bedside reporting encourages teamwork and accountability of staff and is safer for the patient because it increases the quality of hospital care.

What should be on a bedside shift report?

According to AHRQ, the critical elements of a BSR are: Introduce the nursing staff, patient, and family to each another. Invite the patient and (with the patient's permission) family to participate. The patient determines who is family and who can participate in the BSR.

Why is shift report important in nursing?

Most importantly, communication supports the foundation of patient care. So, hand-off reporting during shift change is a critical process that is crucial in protecting a patient's safety. Throughout the hand-off report, it is vital to provide accurate, up-to-date, and pertinent information to the oncoming nurse.

What is bedside shift report in nursing?

By definition, BSR is the change-of-shift report between the offgoing nurse and the oncoming nurse that takes place at the bedside. This makes patients a part of the process in the delivery of their care.

Why is bedside report so important?

Bedside shift reports are viewed as an opportunity to reduce errors and important to ensure communication between nurses and communication. Models of bedside report incorporating the patient into the triad have been shown to increase patient engagement and enhance caregiver support and education.

What is the purpose of a shift report?

Shift reports help improve communication between coworkers or team members, and they ensure proper execution, control and oversight. Managers use shift reports to pass information about proceedings that take place during a specific shift to others.

What is bedside handoff report?

Nurse bedside shift report, or handoff, has been defined in the literature as a process of exchanging vital patient information, responsibility, and accountability between the off-going and oncoming nurses in an effort to ensure safe continuity of care and the delivery of best clinical practices.2-6 There are different ...

How do I improve my bedside handover?

Yet a simple strategy to improve communication is to bring the report to the patient's bedside. This facilitates earlier connection between the oncoming nurse and the patient and presents an opportunity for the patient to ask questions and clarify information with both nurses.

What is the role of a nurse in a change of shift?

The nurse is accountable for the communication that occurs during the change-of-shift report. This is the time that the nurse can verify the patient's health history, physical assessment findings, and plan of care, including prescribed medications.

Why are nurses always on the same page during the report?

Nurses are always on the same page during the report because they're both looking at the same information at the same time. 12. The patient benefits from BSR too.

How does BSR work?

How (and why) BSR works. By definition, BSR is the change-of-shift report between the offgoing nurse and the oncoming nurse that takes place at the bedside. This makes patients a part of the process in the delivery of their care.

How does BSR help nurses?

The advantages for the nurse begin with the efficiency of report, which streamlines all pertinent information and saves nursing time. BSR improves staff's teamwork by giving nurses the opportunity to work together at the bedside, ensuring accountability. Using a standardized format reduces the risk of miscommunication because it overcomes different communication styles. Better communication also helps the oncoming nurse prioritize assignments according to need. The nurse is informed about the patient earlier in the shift because report time is shortened. Nurses are always on the same page during the report because they're both looking at the same information at the same time. 12

Why is BSR important in nursing?

Because nurses are the first line of defense when it comes to patient safety, BSR is an integral part of the care plan. The nurse is accountable for the communication that occurs during the change-of-shift report.

How many people died from BSR in 2010?

According to the Inspector General Office, Health and Human Services Department, less-than-competent hospital care contributed to the deaths of 180,000 Medicare patients in 2010. However, the real number may be higher: According to one estimate, between 210,000 and 440,000 patients who go to ...

What is the AHRQ?

The AHRQ has an evidence-based guide to help hospitals work with patients and families to improve quality and safety. This guide has four strategies that help hospitals partner with patients. Strategy 3 states: “The goal of the Nurse Bedside Shift Report strategy is to help ensure the safe handoff of care between nurses by involving the patient and family. The patient defines who their family is and who can take part in bedside shift report.” 7

How effective is bedside nursing handover?

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Bedside nursing handover may be an efficient way to achieve quality nursing outcomes, supporting the personalization of care. Recent literature attests to how bedside nursing handover is perceived by cardiac patents, but the experience of nurses participating in these handovers is largely unknown. The aim of this study is to explore nurses’ experiences after the implementation of bedside nursing handover in an Italian cardiac surgical ward. METHOD: A qualitative descriptive research approach was used to respond to the study aim, and the data was collected using two focus groups. RESULTS: The main themes that were identified revolved around improving nursing care, greater professionalism, effective relationships, consequences for the patient, and obstacles to change. Moreover, we found that nurses perceive bedside nursing handover to be effective in promoting patient-centred care. The nurses in our study also felt that any difficulties with the implementation of a bedside nursing handover protocol (e.g. confidentiality) should be addressed through continued nursing education. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a valuable insight into nurses’ perceptions of bedside nursing handover in a single cardiac surgery setting in Italy and is the first qualitative investigation from this perspective. Further research may help to elucidate the impact of bedside nursing handover on clinical and organisational outcomes. Keywords: Care; Cardiac Surgery; Focus Group; Handover; Nursing; Qualitative Research; Personalization

Why is a shift report important?

Background: Shift report is one of the most important factors in patient care to ensure the oncoming nurse can properly care for the patient. Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation (SBAR) is a communication tool that enables the safe transfer of pertinent information to ensure the best quality of care is provided. Communication is one of the key components of bedside nursing practice. Communication ensures that medical errors are avoided, while patient safety and the quality of care are not affected during a patient’s stay.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the risks and benefits of bedside shift report (BSR) versus traditional shift report (TSR).Method: For a proper evidence-based review, the studies were precisely analyzed, and systematically pieced using the top four tiers of evidence hierarchy.Findings: While bedside shift report has been implemented within inpatient settings, it is not always being utilized properly. Upon conclusion of the literature review, evidence supports using bedside shift report to reduce medical errors, safety risks, and improve the quality of care.

What is a BSR nurse?

... Bedside shift reports (BSRs) as the change-of-shift report between the departing nurse and the incoming nurse take place at a patient's bedside (Ofori-Atta, Binienda, & Chalupka, 2015). They have been recently recommended (Mardis et al., 2016) as a method that ensures a patient-centred approach and patient safety (Ofori-Atta et al., 2015;Tobiano, Whitty, Bucknall, & Chaboyer, 2017), and patient and nurse satisfaction, team collaboration and cost containment (Gregory, Tan, Tilrico, Edwardson, & Gamm, 2014;Mardis et al., 2016). ...

What is centralized report?

Centralized reports, from the patient perspective. Most patients want to be part of their healthcare experience. But many complain that report occurring away from the bedside makes them feel alone, like they’re just another cog in the healthcare wheel.

Where is a BSR carried out?

In many facilities, bedside shift report (BSR) is carried out behind closed doors, either at the nurse’s station or in a private office. Some healthcare organizations even allow nurses to record their reports for the next shift to listen to later. But a growing body of research indicates that shift report away from the bedside isn’t ideal for safe, ...

Is it safe to shift a report away from the bedside?

But a growing body of research indicates that shift report away from the bedside isn’t ideal for safe, effective patient care. Patients don’t feel included when report is centralized, and errors leading to patient harm are more likely to occur.

What is the role of a nurse in a change of shift?

The nurse notifies the physician and obtains correct and complete medication orders, thereby avoiding a potentially serious medication error. A nursing unit schedules staffing coverage to accommodate the shift change and minimize the occurrence of interruptions during change-of-shift report.

What is the basic to quality health care?

Basic to the provision of quality health care is the ability to communicate with one another and safely handoff patient care in a seamless manner so every patient can benefit from each phase of care through a well-executed handoff. This is a process that is ubiquitous but also a high-risk endeavor in many settings.

What does Nurse Green realize about morphine sulfate?

When Nurse Brown asks about this, Nurse Green realizes she gave morphine sulfate but did not document it on the MAR. Due to Nurse Brown’s question, Nurse Green realizes the omission and communicates the information and documents it in the medical record , preventing an accidental overdose of a medication.