Project Description
Bedside shift report (BSR) is a vitally important practice in the nursing healthcare system responsible for the patients’ safety that serves as an opportunity to decrease errors and fatal accidents. Furthermore, bedside shift reports provide communication between nurses, as well as with patients, which enhances patient engagement and has a beneficial impact on the nursing experience and education.
Such an approach is crucial in the patient care system as it promotes safety and helps to avoid medical errors that are among the key factors impacting successful care provision. The implementation of bedside shift reports is a widely examined topic in the medical literature with the theoretical and practical analysis of its various strategies that are fundamental for patients’ safety and higher satisfactory results. Therefore, by analyzing the studies on bedside shift report implementation in nursing practice, one may learn its basic frameworks and effects, as well as achieve sustainable development in the nursing work experience.
Project Rationale
The implementation of BSR in the nursing system facilitates specific positive outcomes that primarily concern the patients. The general rationale for BSR is to form an environment that aims at uniting patients and their families, clinicians, and hospital staff to work together to strengthen the quality and safety of care. Besides, Ofori-Atta (2015) states that implementing the BSR can improve the efficiency of communication between health providers, as well as develop the culture of safety by interaction with the patient and family about “key facets of care, treatment, and services” (p. 541). Another critical purpose of BSR is to encourage patients to be actively concerned about self-care as part of the patient safety strategy. Moreover, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2017) suggests several beneficial aspects of the BSR implementation. These include improving patient safety and quality, patient experience of care, nursing staff satisfaction, and time management and accountability between nurses (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2017). Thus, it is essential to discover multiple strategies for successful BSR implementation.
Personal/Professional Expectations
Based on personal expectations, my purpose is to gain specific individual benefits concerning nursing practice. This implies improved communication skills and credible information, as well as several aspects concerning patients as the central focus of a health care provider. Those include patient empowerment for asking questions about their care, as well as achieving higher levels of patient satisfaction and raising their safety and trust in nurses. From the professional point of view, I expect to develop involvement with care, discover nurse empowerment strategies, and obtain skills to visualize the patient. Besides, I would like to work in an environment with improved time management and with an increased level of nurse satisfaction.
Project Goals
The goals of the BSR implementation project are defining the issue, standardizing the process of nurse bedside shift reports, and providing the opportunity for patients and families to participate in care delivery. By analyzing its critical elements and effects on finances and sustainability, this project aims at facing common challenges and nurse concerns regarding BSR. The methods designed for accomplishing the project’s goals include creating a multidisciplinary team to identify areas of improvement, finding ways to implement nursing BSR strategy, and direct implementation and assessment of the BSR strategy.
Literature Review
As mentioned above, there are several literature studies on the BSR topic. For instance, Sand-Jecklin and Sherman (2014) analyze the quantitative assessment of patient and nurse effects of the BSR implementation by providing 34 surveys of patients. They led to positive results and enhancement from baseline to 13 months upon completion of the project. In addition, the restored nurse attitude, as well as the decline in falls at shift change, were reported. Another study, presented by Dorvil (2018), declares successful adoption of the BSR implementation according to the five-step approach supported by a motivated nursing team. As described by Gregory, Tan, Tilrico, Edwardson, and Gamm (2014), there are multiple advantages to models of BSR, where the main objective for nurses is to identify a model the most suitable for their organization and patients.
Procedure
The process of BSR implementation is a vitally important issue in nursing practice that requires a long-term approach and an in-depth study of the ongoing system or organizational culture, environment, and those involved. The BSR implementation procedure also requires the staff with a specific set of traits, such as good comprehension of process and time management, relationship building, mentorship skills, and high-level planning and application systems. The analyzed literature, as well as the personal practical nursing approach, are valuable sources needed to study the issue and are foundational in developing the right strategy. For the direct BSR process, the required sources are staffing and costs. It is important to prepare nurses to conduct BSR by following the methods:
- establishing a multidisciplinary team,
- assessing visitation policies,
- noticing challenges in changing staff behavior,
- setting the right goals,
- determining the logistics and ways of adoption of BSR strategies,
- staff training,
- evaluate implementation intensely during the first two weeks, later apply a periodic approach,
- collecting feedback,
- improving the procedure.
Expected Outcomes
Most importantly, I expect the BSR implementation to bring beneficial results for the nursing staff, its patients, and families. The suggested methods and strategy based on the analyzed literature contributed to standardizing the process and forming shared expectations. Thoughtful consideration of time factors minimized distractions for staff that positively influenced the work process. To sum up, the key element for the successful adoption is the support from the nurse managers and staff ownership, as the training addressed major concerns and emphasized critical points of BSR.
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2017). Nurse bedside shift report. Implementation handbook. [PDF file]. Web.
Dorvil, B. (2018). The secrets to successful nurse bedside shift report implementation and sustainability. Nursing Management (Springhouse), 49(6), 20-25. Web.
Gregory, S., Tan, D., Tilrico, M., Edwardson, N., & Gamm, L. (2014). Bedside shift reports. What does the evidence say? JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 44(10), 541-545. Web.
Ofori-Atta, J. (2015). Bedside shift report: implications for patient safety and quality of care. Nursing, 45(8), 1-4. Web.
Sand-Jecklin, K., & Sherman, J. (2014). A quantitative assessment of patient and nurse outcomes of bedside nursing report implementation. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 23(19-20), 2854-2863. Web.