Waccamaw Community Hospital Shift Reporting
At Waccamaw Community Hospital, nurses are passing the baton right at the patient’s bedside when the shift changes. And moving it to the bedside is eliminating a lot of potential for misunderstandings and enhancing communications among caregivers and with the patient and family.
Excellent patient care is a priority at Waccamaw Community Hospital. Part of providing quality care is keeping the lines of communication flowing. In an effort to improve the communication process for the patient and caregivers, the Nursing Department at Waccamaw Community Hospital has begun implementing ‘bedside reports.”
Bedside reports will keep patients better informed about their plan of care, medication, tests and progress while at Waccamaw. The patient’s nurse provides bedside reporting in the presence of the patient at each shift change to ensure all of the patient’s health care information has been communicated correctly to the nurse coming on duty; it is also an opportunity for the patient and the patient’s family to meet the nurse.
According to Cheryl Kilbourne, Waccamaw Community Hospital’s Clinical 2 Director West, the planning for bedside reporting began in February 2010, with a small group of nurses. A few months later, the project was implemented throughout the department. The specific patient reports have grown to include both nurses checking all lines, tubes, dressings, catheters, and IV sites during this handoff process.
A white board is used in the patient’s room to record the nurse’s name and phone number for the shift. Additional team members will also be identified by name on the white board.
The process allows for a real-time exchange of information that increases patient safety, improves quality of care, increases accountability and involves the patient. It has also helps increase patient knowledge, improve continuity of care, and reduce the rate of IV infiltrations.
“This is a far more efficient process for shift report which promotes accountability from nurse to nurse,” said Kilbourne. “The patient and patients’ families also have been very positive about the changes. They feel like they are a part of the team.”
