Date of Graduation

12-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Nursing

Advisor/Mentor

Smith-Blair, Nancy J

Committee Member/Reader

Sisson, Wendy

Committee Member/Second Reader

Gentry, Jacklyn

Abstract

Nursing care occurs on a continuum that involves transferring the responsibility of a patient’s care from one nurse to another during shift change. Hand-off reports are a vital part of the communication cycle to ensure safe and effective care. Studies have shown bedside reporting increases patient and nurse satisfaction as well as the nurse-patient relationship (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013b). The aim of this study was to educate nurses on the importance of bedside reporting and to implement a standardized hand-off. This study was evaluated through two measures. The first measure involved a survey/interview on nurses' perception before and after nurse education on bedside reporting. The second measure involved observation of nurses' behavior during hand-off before and after the educational in-service. Data was collected by nursing students from the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing and the student nurse researchers. The student nurse researchers administered and collected nurse surveys on nurse satisfaction with report and barriers to presenting report at the bedside. Both the student nurse researchers and nursing students observed the nurses during report and recorded data utilizing a checklist (Appendix A). After the educational in-service, nurse compliance with the items on the checklist increased in every aspect except for “reason for isolation” which had no differential at 100% compliance. The nurse satisfaction survey identified one significant area, “Do you feel you gather all the necessary information during report?” and the nurse barrier survey identified two obstacles, “patient not included in report” and “time consuming/not efficient.”

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