Nursing Bedside Report

Nursing Bedside Reporting, Patient Safety, And Satisfaction Scores The American Nurses Association estimates that up to 80% of serious medical errors involve miscommunication between caregivers when patients are transferred or handed off during shift report (ANA 2012). In the nursing profession change of shifts require the successful transfer of information from nurse to nurse to prevent medical errors and adverse events (Sullivan, 2010). Research shows that when patients are included and engaged in their health care there is greater potential to lead to measurable improvements in safety and quality of care. The purpose of this paper is to report results of an organized review of the literature which studied bedside reporting in the hospital

The idea of shift work is a common one, but for nurses this is not a simple changing of staff during a certain time, change of shift signifies a time of purposeful communication between nurses and patients, in order to promote patient safety and best practices (Caruso, 2007). During this time, there is the possibility for this critical opportunity to relay important information to become disorganized by extraneous information, rather than concentrating on the needs of the patient (Sullivan, 2010). Often the patient is left out of the conversation, and is not a part of the process. Patients and families can play an important role in making sure these transitions in care are safe and effective (AHRQ, 2013).
Hospitals frequently enhance their quality of care by improving their best practices. Bedside reporting is a best practice that has numerous benefits including a decrease in the potential for mistakes, increased patient involvement and understanding of their care, increased teamwork among nurses, and an increased accountability of nurses (AHRQ, 2013). A review of the literature was run and showed several studies and literature reviews on bedside reporting. The majority of these articles were conducted on adult medical-surgical