Running head: BEDSIDE REPORTING

Bedside Reporting
Katherine Sheppard
Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NUR3207

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Abstract

The quality improvement project will focus on the importance of healthcare

communication between nurses and other healthcare members. Bedside reporting helps nurses
and patients to better their outcomes. Many hospitals and other healthcare facilities have
transferred over to bedside reporting that will transform care at the bedside. There have been

Bedside Reporting
many positive outcomes to bedside reporting. This quality improvement project educates the
reader of factors that may help the nurse to incorporate bedside handoff and the benefits that it
may hold.

Bedside Reporting

Have you ever taken report from a nurse and not too much longer gone into a room a
thought to yourself Who did I just get report on? Many times nurses find themselves in this
situation where they had received a rushed report on a patient and when it was time to get
assessments completed everything was not what was expected. The nursing issue presented is
the communication between nurses at change of shift or any other busy time during the day.
Nurses are often busy passing medications, doing assessments, answering call bells and many
other tasks that they may have for the day that it is hard to keep up with everything. This is why
the main focus of the quality improvement would be to initiate a better nursing handoff.
Substandard or variable handoffs have contributed to errors, care omissions, treatment
delays, inefficiencies from repeated work, inappropriate treatments, adverse effects with minor
or major harm, increased length of stay, avoidable readmissions, and increase costs (Halm,
2013). Nurses can begin to incorporate bedside handoff into their daily reports in order to better
the outcome of many patients. An example of a good bedside report would include all aspects of
the patients care for the shift and throughout their stay in the hospital.
Bedside handoff is a great communication tool for all members of the healthcare team. It
also helps the patient feel that they are included in their treatment. Bedside handoff gives the
patients and family members an opportunity for them to be part of their plan of care and address
any issues that they may have. Patients can also educate nurses on errors that have been told
during the change of shift. Physical therapy, physicians, nurses, laboratory, radiology and all
other members of the healthcare team should also incorporate a bedside report in order to better
the plan of care. When a bedside handoff is done correctly, patients can intervene when errors are

Bedside Reporting

present. Patients are given the opportunity to listen to what is told in report and therefore,
irrelevant data on opinions are also eliminated.
What should be included in handoff? According to Kurt A. Patton, MS, RPh (2007) some
key information that should be included in the handoff include: admitting diagnosis, comorbidities, vital signs, allergies, planned interventions, issues requiring interventions, and any
special diets (Patton, 2007). These are just a few examples of what to include in a report. Some
hospitals uses information tools that include situation, background, assessment and
recommendations (SBAR). SBAR is a communication tool that is recommended by the Joint
Commission in an effective bedside handoff. SBAR promotes quality and patient safety,
primarily because it helps individuals communicate with each other with a shared set of
expectations (Safer Healthcare, 2015).
Nurses have been shown to improve satisfaction in many areas of the project that include
time it takes to get tasks done, information transmitted, questions that have been answered and
staff that is accountable for each task (Halm, 2013). A dashboard has been created that can help
measure the outcomes of the quality improvement project. The dashboard includes information
that will measure the communication between healthcare members such as nurses and physicians
and how the patient perceives the communication. It will measure how often the nurse is using
the SBAR tool, how the nurses communication about medications, interventions and handoff
responses. The dashboard will be shared with the staff members and managers of each unit in
order to figure out response of how bedside handoff is effective. The results could come by
surveys after patients discharge. Each month the information will be documented and the nurses
and other staff members can meet to notice any trends. Patient satisfaction and positive outcomes

Bedside Reporting

should be the main focus. In hopes of this improvement project, nursing should continue the use
of bedside report and look for improvements on what to communicate.
With all of the benefits associated with bedside handoff, why is it that nurses continue to
miss important information when giving report? Many nurses would complain that there is not
enough time in the day to share all of the information that we need to. Other barriers to effective
handoffs include: lapses in communication or failures to communicate, lengthy or irrelevant
content, and inaccurate recall of communicated information. Other communication problems
included language barriers, illegible handwriting, and poor communication between nurses and
physicians. Communication barriers related to social structures and hierarchies constituted a less
intuitive grouping. (Riesenberg, Leisch, & Cunningham, 2010). With communication barriers,
nurses should continue to seek improvement ideas to better the care of our patients.
Another dashboard, created by The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient
Safety (2009) measures nurse perceptions related to transitions to bedside reporting. The
dashboard took account of improved communication between nurses, smoother transactions with
patient experience, time on handoffs, how the patients prefer handoff, and what other nurses
experience. (The Joint Commission, 2012). This is a great tool that will not only measure the
effects of bedside nursing on how the patient perceives it but how it can better the care for
nurses. Nurses work hard and by implementing positive changes, we can make the steps to help
our patients.
There is a lot to learn on how to communicate information in the healthcare field. As
nurses we are great advocates for our patients. Bedside handoff will help nurses to communicate
any needs for the patients individually. Not only will it benefit nurses, it will benefit the patient
and many other members of the healthcare team.

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Ensuring Bedside Handof

Septem
ber
Communication with Nurses
Communication with Doctors
Communication with other members of
Healthcare Team
Use of SBAR
Communication About Medicines
Communication about interventions
Patient Satisfaction Rate after Handof

Octob
er

Novemb
er

Decemb
er

Januar
y

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References
Halm, M. A. (2013). Nursing Handofs: Ensuring Safe Passage for Patient. American
Journal of Critical Care, 11(2), 158-162. Retrieved from ajcc.aacnjournals.org
Patton, K. (2007). Handoff Communication: Safe Transitions in Patient Care.
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%2F%2Fwww.usahealthsystem.com%2Fworkfiles%2Fcom_docs%2Fgme
%2F2011%2520Workfiles%2FHandof%2520Communication-Safe
%2520Transitions%2520in%2520Patient%2520Care.pdf&ei=API
Riesenberg, L. A., Leisch, J., & Cunningham, J. (2010, April). Nursing Handoffs: A
Systemic Review of the Literature. Retrieved from Lippincott Nursing Center:
Barriers to efective handofs. We identified numerous barriers to efective
handofs that could be organized into eight major categories (see Barriers to
Efective Handofs). Of these categories, communication barriers were noted
most frequently, with ge
Safer Healthcare. (2015). Why is SBAR communication so critical? Retrieved from
Safer Healthcare: http://www.saferhealthcare.com/sbar/what-is-sbar/
The Joint Commission. (2012). Making the Transition to Nursing Bedside Shift
Reports. The Joint Commission Jounal on Quality and Patient Safety.