Running head: BEDSIDE SHIFT REPORTING 1
BEDSIDE SHIFT REPORTING 3
Part 2 of Project
Literature Review
Bedside shift reporting has been described by the Agency for Healthcare and quality as a strategy which supports the safe handoff of care in health facilities and this plan mainly involves the patients, the nurses who are the caregivers and the patients’ members of the family. Research has shown that communication is vital in every health facility as it greatly influences the delivery and outcome of care in the bedside shift reporting strategy. The bedside shift reporting strategy has proven to be of much importance in the health environment since the strategy’s primary objective is to offer the care that patients deserve and the approach also positively affects nursing as a profession (Cairns, Dudjak, Hoffmann, & Lorenz, 2013).
Individual Benefits of Bedside Shift Reporting Strategy
The articles selected for the literature review stressed on the individual benefits of the bedside shift reporting strategy for the patients, the nurses, and the doctors. From the view of the patient’s view, the articles mainly stressed on the enhancement of care and the empowerment of the patients where they have the opportunity to ask questions with ease when need be (Wakefield, Ragan, Brandt, & Tregnago, 2012). Other articles selected for the literature review highlighted that patients benefit from this strategy mainly through the quick delivery of care by the health officials.
From the perspective of nurses working in the health facilities, the individual benefits of the bedside shift reporting strategy include leaving one’s shift at the required time unlike in traditional methods of reporting, building relationships between the nurse and the patients and their families, and an improvement in one’s communication skills since one has to effectively communicate with the patient including the members of the family. The other individual benefits of this strategy from the nurses’ perspective includes empowerment, and this strategy of reporting in health facilities also reduces the amount of time that they would take in writing shift reports thus saving up on time (Cairns, Dudjak, Hoffmann, & Lorenz, 2013).
According to Jeffs at al. (2013), satisfaction among the patients in health facilities greatly improved after the implementation of the bedside shift reporting strategy but other authors note that although satisfaction among patients improved, satisfaction later decreased among patients, and this is mainly attributed to lack of monitoring of the plan to acquire feedback from the patients. From the literature review, it is also evident that after introducing this strategy in health facilities, patient satisfaction significantly decreases and this is attributed to system changes.
Bedside shift reporting strategy improves the safety of patients (Vogus, & McClelland, 2016). Through this approach, nurses can attend to patients with problems that might have gone unnoticed without the implementation of the strategy for instance where nurses were able to attend to a patient with breathing problems as they were going to conduct the bedside shift report (Sand-Jecklin, & Sherman, 2013). Through this strategy, both nurse and doctors can notice changes in the patients under their care since they can visualize their patients during and after the bedside shift report.
Confidentiality Concerns in the Bedside Shift Reporting Strategy
While conducting the literature review, three articles highlighted privacy concerns regarding the bedside shift reporting strategy. After the implementation of this strategy in health facilities, nurses raised their concern with having to ask visitors to leave the rooms to allow them to carry out bedside shift reports (Wakefield et al. 2013). One of the main reasons as to why some patients rejected the implementation of this strategy was due to privacy concerns. Some patients were not comfortable with the idea that nurses would discuss their medical history in front of their family members for instance on difficult topics that relate to their diagnosis and other health issues.
Some of the privacy concerns that patients had could be addressed through explaining to these patients that the bedside shift reports are not in any way different from the traditional methods of reporting since many conversations between the nurses and patients are always overheard in rooms that are semiprivate (Wakefield et al. 2013).
Accountability in the Bedside Shift Reporting Strategy
In carrying out the literature review, four articles highlight the advantages and disadvantages of bedside shift reports. In some health facilities, nurses do not want to be accountable to patients thus making them reject the full implementation of this strategy in their health centers (Cairns et al. 2013). Some nurses also fear accountability due to the lack of confidence in their medical expertise where some nurses feel that they do not have the required skills to handle some patients within their care. The advantage that was mainly highlighted by scholars on accountability was the ability of patients in health facilities to relate with those nurses existing and those reporting for their shifts.
The inconsistencies in the information contained in the articles could be attributed to the use of different research methods among the authors of the articles and the use of the various samples while carrying out their research. The evidence in the articles shows great support for the bedside shift reporting strategy though further study needs to be carried in this area to address the challenges it faces.
References
Cairns, L. L., Dudjak, L. A., Hoffmann, R. L., & Lorenz, H. L. (2013). Utilizing Bedside Shift Report To Improve The Effectiveness Of Shift Handoff. Journal Of Nursing Administration, 43(3), 160-165.
Jeffs, L., Acott, A., Simpson, E., Campbell, H., Irwin, T., Lo, J. & Cardoso, R. (2013). The Value Of Bedside Shift Reporting Enhancing Nurse Surveillance, Accountability, And Patient Safety. Journal Of Nursing Care Quality, 28(3), 226-232.
Sand-Jecklin, K., & Sherman, J. (2013). Incorporating Bedside Report Into Nursing Handoff: Evaluation Of Change In Practice. Journal Of Nursing Care Quality, 28(2), 186-194.
Vogus, T. J., & Mcclelland, L. E. (2016). When The Customer Is The Patient: Lessons From Healthcare Research On Patient Satisfaction And Service Quality Ratings. Human Resource Management Review, 26(1), 37-49.
Wakefield, D. S., Ragan, R., Brandt, J., & Tregnago, M. (2012). Making The Transition To Nursing Bedside Shift Reports. The Joint Commission Journal On Quality And Patient Safety, 38(6), 243-Ap1.