Saving Lives at the Bedside: One Report at a Time.
Change of shift report is an important process that happens at least twice a day in a hospital setting. This process involves the previous nurse and the new nurse reviewing vital patient information. This information includes contents such as diagnosis, medication administration, and assessment points. This process historically has taken place at the nurse’s station but current evidence supports moving the report to be completed at the patient's bedside. Some of the positive benefits of bedside reporting are a decrease in patient falls and medication errors. Therefore, the purpose of this project is a proposal on how bedside reporting could be implemented in an agency that currently practices nurses' station reports. Implementing bedside reporting will be evaluated using qualitative analyses of pre and post-pilot study questionnaires of the nursing staff and patients to determine what changes may need to be made to continue this evidence-based practice.