Ample communication isnecessary to sustain a safe and trusting patient environment. Handoff is theprocess where there is a transfer of information regarding the patient’scurrent status, recent history and any new information that the next personcaring for the patient will need to know.
There are many facilities that continueto have shift handoff report at the nurse’s station or the medication cart. Accordingto Taylor (2015), miscommunication among healthcare providers has led to eightypercent of errors in the medical field. Exchanging information at the bedsideempowers families and patients in the decision-making process for their care.
Researchershave identified positive opinions reported by nurses toward bedside report.Nurses that have utilized the bedside method explained that it decreased communicationerrors among staff promoted accountability and enhanced teamwork and respect What evidence supports your concerns? According to Bradley and Mott (2013), results of thestudy they evaluated suggested that patients preferred the bedside handoff processover the nursing station report handoff method. The main changes that werefound by patients included the process of handoff at the bedside allowing patientsto have the ability to know who will be caring forthem as well as feeling included in conversations related to their care. Additionally, the outcome indicates thatstaff expressed that because of the change to handoff report at the bedside,there was an increase in the amount of patient involvement in their treatment.
Bedsideshift report improves patient and family satisfaction. By viewing the exchangeof medical information between nurses, anxiety that the patient and family maybe feeling has been shown to decrease (Bruton, Norton, Smyth,Ward, & Day, 2016). andincreases their perception of the nurse’s ability to provide care. Givingreport at the bedside also allows patients and families to observe teamwork betweenthe nurses and o be educated on their treatment.Resultsshowed that bedside report increased in patient satisfaction within multipleareas of communication: nurses kept them informed, well together to providecare, and staff included the patient in decisions concerning their treatment. Thestudies reviewed offer evidence that supports the use of bedside report as an importantreport handoff practice within the clinical setting, with increases in patientand nurse satisfaction exhibited continually.
As found in one assessment of theoutcomes of bedside report, patient falls at the change of shift were greatlyreduced after the change was implemented at the multiple medical facilities wherethe study was performed (Bradley & Mott, 2014).Howdoes this situation impact the cost of healthcare delivery?Thepractice of report at the nurse’s station or medication cart could potentiallylead to adverse events or medication errors. The process of patient handoffduring change of shift can unintentionally lead to patient harm because ofimportant information errors. Handoff reports that missed vital informationhave been directly related to errors, close calls and sentinel events (Brutonet al., 2016). Implementing the practice of bedside report has been shown toreduce miscommunication and misinformation, which in turn can prevent these costlymistakes.
This can include extended hospital stays due to hospital-associatedinfections, additional cost of unnecessary medications and diagnostic proceduresand many more instances. In summary, based on the literaturereviewed regarding the implementation of bedside handoff in the clinicalsetting, a change to shift report at the bedside upholds a facility wide stanceof safety and satisfaction for all patients. This nurse-driven intervention toimprove patient safety and satisfaction continues to promote quality patientcare and safety while increasing effective communication. The positive effectthat bedside handoff has on patients, families, nurses, and other clinicalstaff outweighs the barriers of implementation. .
