Bedside Nursing - Decrease Safety Hazards - Research Paper Example

Bedside Nursing Report: Decrease safety hazards al Affiliation Bedside Nursing Report: Decrease safety hazards Bedside reporting is the transfer of accountability, responsibility and authority for the patient and his or her care from a nurse to another nurse. McMurray, Chaboyer, Wallis, & Fetherston (2010) in their study reported that a nurse proved the benefit of bedside reporting by stating, “At bedside you can visualize what you’ve done for this patient. It can reveal patient cues, what’s on their face, especially if a patient is unknown to you…It’s taught nurses to…be more accountable, think about what they hand over and why” (McMurray, Chaboyer, Wallis, & Fetherston, 2010, p. 2584). Bedside report was established as a way of giving report from an outgoing nurse to an incoming nurse in the presence of the patient. It includes the provision of a chance for the patient to ask questions about his or her care and receive answers and clarifications towards the same from both the outgoing and the incoming nurse. Bedside reporting is a traditional nursing practice that has lasted for many decades and happens throughout the world. However, research into bedside reporting did not happen until the 1990s. the first researches focused on the differences in reporting either though audio or through face-to-face ways. However, the Joint Commission in 2006 issued National Patient Safety Goals that shifted the focus of research to the benefits, challenges and risks of bedside reporting. One of the benefits of Bedside reporting has been decreasing safety hazards in patient care. According to Laws & Amato (2010), a study that was done by two registered nurses working at a rehabilitation center indicated that before the implementation of bedside report in the unit that they were attached to, 28 percent of the registered nurses showed a preference towards bedside reporting as they believed that implementing bedside reporting would improve patient safety (Laws & Amata, 2010). The study was also conducted after bedside reporting was implemented at the rehabilitation center. 70 percent of the registered nurses acknowledged that bedside report had improved patient safety. the same research also found out that bedside report had enabled nurses to plan their day and shift prioritizing patient safety and care. This shows that bedside reporting has a positive effect with respect to ensuring that patients are safe in the hands of medical practitioners especially nurses who spent a large percentage of time with patients as compared to any other medical practitioners (Laws & Amata, 2010). Nursing practice is based on the notion that patient-centered care is the central aspect in the treatment initiatives and the recovery of patients from illness because the patient is put at the forefront of every other thing or activity. Research has indicated that bedside report promotes patient-centered care by ensuring that nurses promote patient involvement and participation in their clinical care whether at home or in the hospital (Chaboyer, McMurray, & Wallis, 2010). Bedside reporting does not just provide patients with a chance to participate in their own clinical care but also gives them a chance to gain knowledge of the staff involved in their care and increase their overall experience of clinical care. This is because they develop confidence to converse with nurses and inform them about their feelings and improvements, thereby increasing their sense of safety (Chaboyer, McMurray, & Wallis, 2010; Fenton, 2006). The use of bedside report enables patients to involve their families more directly to their own clinical care and provides a platform for them to correct misconceptions. The involvement of patient families in the clinical care of patients provides a chance for the family members to provide more information, for instance the patient history of the illness and different medications, which helps in the overall safety assurance for the patient. According to Ferris (2013) study, one nurse working as a floor nurse in a medical surgical unit in Washington participated in implementing a bedside report in her unit in 2010. She struggled to convince nurses to agree to use bedside report in their shifts but eventually they agreed to use them in practice. The bedside report soon spread to all other units in the hospital and to a sister facility. The spread in the use of bedside report indicated that it had benefits in the hospital. One of the benefits recorded by the report was that bedside report helped in the improvement of communication between patients and their families. The report also found out that there was less rapid response calls from nurses compared to the time when bedside reporting was not implemented. In essence, patient safety was improved because nurses understood the patients that they were dealing with in terms of the medication they needed and the clinical care that was to be provided for the patients to be safe (Ferris, 2013). It is essential to note that the most effective care originates from including the patient in his or her own care. Griffin (2010) indicates that in her study, it was found out that bedside report brought about a decrease in medication errors and probable accidents that occur in line of duty when providing care to patients. This provided incoming nurses with a chance to see the patient and the equipment in the patient’s room to be able to understand the manner in which they can use the equipment to help the patient or introduce other equipment needed for proper patient care (Griffin, 2010). Nurses also expressed belief that crosschecking information at the bedside with patient observations and notes and asking questions to clarify medication and treatment helped in the avoidance of errors. Visualizing patient conditions during care was also vital because they provided nurses with a chance to recall important information to handover to the incoming nurse when introducing them to the patient (Griffin, 2010). The implementation of bedside report helps nurses in communicating with physicians with respect to patient care because it gives them a chance to understand the patient and their current condition on a more personalized level. This helps in enhancing patient safety because nurses give correct and accurate information about patient status and overall condition throughout clinical care. In a study carried out by Evans, Grunawalt, McClish, Wood, & Friese, (2012), it was revealed that nurses reported to have a better chance at prioritizing care after seeing their patients during bedside report in the first 30 minutes of their shift. They report, “Improved prioritization of the workflow means the most acute patients…in the assignment are seen within the first half hour of the shift, and oncoming nurses are able to visualize the patient themselves rather than rely on comments from colleagues” (Evans, Grunawalt, McClish, Wood, & Friese, 2012, p. 284). It is also important to note that patients experience more satisfaction with clinical care as the report process is fast and patients use call lights less often during nurse shifts (Maxson, et al, 2012). Therefore, bedside report ensures that patient safety becomes a key component of nursing care because nurses interact with patients one-on-one and prioritize certain issues of patient care to ensure that patients are well taken care of and their needs are addressed adequately and professionally. Patient safety is at the heart of bedside reporting as one of its key benefits. However, it is important to acknowledge that it can be challenging in dealing with patient safety and needs. One serious challenge with bedside report is that it has the potential of violating patient’s privacy and confidentiality. A study conducted by Grant & Colello (2009) revealed that some patients have no problem inviting guests to be present for report while others prefer the respect of their privacy (Grant & Colello, 2009). Patient confidentiality and privacy is an important aspect in patient care and should be respected because violation of this could expose patient safety. For some patients, developing trust with various people is not easy and the shifts in nursing practice do not make it any easier. For such patients, revealing their information to incoming nurses, especially new ones could be difficult. Therefore, bedside report could expose patient’s privacy and expose their safety either physically or mentally because there are hospitals that have multi-bed units that create situations where implementing bedside reporting becomes difficult. Thus, this aspect must be considered when implementing bedside report in hospitals. Bedside report has proved to achieve overall effectiveness that works to ensure patient safety in all the undertakings that nurses do in patient care. Shift-to-shift report is often a cumbersome process especially for student nurses, unlicensed aids and float nurses when dealing with patient care. This has been the major reason for patient safety issues that occur in hospitals. However, the implementation of bedside report makes it possible for nurses to handover at the bedside thereby saving time, ensuring that nurses conduct an accurate identification of patients with the available information about them and allow nurses get an opportunity to begin patient assessment by asking questions and clarifying issues with the patient. Most importantly, bedside report has ensured that patients, their family members and caregivers have participation in patient care thereby improving patient safety at all times. References Chaboyer, W., McMurray, A., & Wallis, M. (2010). Bedside nursing handover: A case study. International Journal Of Nursing Practice, 16(1), 27-34. doi:10.1111/j.1440-172X.2009.01809.x Laws, D., & Amato, S. (2010). Incorporating bedside reporting into change-of-shift report. Rehabilitation Nursing, 35(2), 70-74. Evans, D., Grunawalt, J., McClish, D., Wood, W., & Friese, C. R. (2012). Bedside shift- to-shift nursing report: Implementation and outcomes. MEDSURG Nursing, 21 (5), 281-292. Fenton, W. (2006). Developing a guide to improve the quality of nurses’ handover. Nursing Older People, 18(11), 32-36. Ferris, C. (2013). Implementing bedside shift report. American Nurse Today, 8, 47-49. Griffin, T. (2010). Bringing change-of-shift report to the bedside: a patient- and family-centered approach. Journal Of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, 24(4), 348-355. doi:10.1097/JPN.0b013e3181f8a6c8 Grant, B., & Colello, S. (2009). Patient safety. Engaging the patient in handoff communication at the bedside. Nursing, 39(10), 22. McMurray, A., Chaboyer, W., Wallis, M., & Fetherston, C. (2010). Implementing bedside handover: strategies for change management. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19, 2580-2589. Maxson, P. M., Derby, K. M., Wrobleski, D. M., & Foss, D. M. (2012). Bedside nurse-to-nurse handoff promotes patient safety. MEDSURG Nursing, 21(3), 140-145. Read More