In this video, I am going to share how to give a good report to the oncoming nurse.
As you know, you have a really short amount of time, 30 minutes max to give report for all your patients. And this could be three patients, four patients, five, maybe even more depending on where you work. You're going to have to be really focused and really concise on how you give report to the oncoming nurse.
If you are the oncoming nurse, be sure you get to work on time and be ready to get report at 7:00. I had a couple situations where I worked night shift and the oncoming day shift nurse would roll in around 7:07 A.M and get her coffee and chitchat and she really didn't come to get report until almost 7:15. And it's not really respectful and it really condenses that 30 minutes into a much shorter window to convey a lot of information. Just try to be respectful, get there early, get your lunch put away and just be ready to get that report at 7:00.
When you are giving report, what information is important to convey? Because, again, you only have about five, seven minutes per patient. You want to communicate the patient's name, their age, their date of birth.
You want to talk about their code status because if the patient were to code, right? Like have a cardiac arrest for the oncoming nurse, should they perform CPR or is the patient a DNR patient?
In addition, you want to let the oncoming nurse know if a patient is on contact, airborne or droplet precautions.
In addition, you want to explain the patient's admitting diagnosis and maybe briefly describe their hospital stay and what the status is regarding that admitting diagnosis.
In terms of the comorbidities, I wouldn't go into a lot of detail about those. Some of the patients we get have like 30, 40 comorbidities. If you talk about all of those with the oncoming nurse you're going to be there for the whole 30 minutes on that one patient. If some of those comorbidities are really relevant to the admitting diagnosis, then definitely share that. Otherwise, I wouldn't really go into a lot of detail about that.
Then you want to run down all of the body systems and give the relevant information that you need to give to the oncoming nurse.
So, respiratory. Is the patient on oxygen? If they are, how many liters per minute are they getting?
Cardiovascular; is the patient on telemetry? Are they on a cardiac drip or a heparin drip? That's going to be important information to convey.
Nervous system; what is the patient's level of consciousness? Are they alert and oriented times four or are they confused? Definitely share that information with the nurse.
What about the patient's mobility? Are they bed-bound? Do they have any kind of paralysis? Can they get up independently or do they require assistance? Those are going to be important things to convey.
In addition, gastrointestinal and the urinary system. Let the oncoming nurse know if the patient is incontinent and whether they have a Foley catheter in place or maybe a condom cath or a Purewick. If you know the patient's last bowel movement, that's always really helpful information for the oncoming nurse to know.
Skin; does the patient have any wounds or pressure injuries? Pressure injuries is the current term for a pressure ulcer or a bedsore is what it was called previously. But if the patient has any wounds or pressure injuries, you definitely want to convey that to the oncoming nurse. And if there's any wound care that is required in the coming shift then definitely remind the nurse of that as well.
If your patient is diabetic definitely tell that to the nurse and let her know that blood sugar checks are required.
Then you want to let the oncoming nurse know what kind of IV access the patient has. Is it a peripheral line? Is it a PICC line or a central line? Are they getting continuous IV fluids and if so, what is it? Is it normal saline, 75ml an hour? You want to give all of that information.
In terms of medications, you're not going to run through all of the medications that the patient needs to get. But I would review any antibiotics that the patient's on. In addition, I would also review any pain medications that the patient takes and when you gave the last pain medicine and when they're due for their next dose, if that's appropriate.
And then you want to convey the plan for the next shift. If you're night shift and you're handing off to a day shift nurse, you want to make them aware if the patient's getting any kind of procedures. Like a CT scan or an MRI or if they're having surgery. Definitely want to give the nurse a heads-up about that.
If the patient requires wound care, you want to let them know about that.
If the patient's going to discharge that day or be transferred to a skilled nursing facility, definitely communicate that so that the oncoming nurse knows what the plan is for the patient. And then that's pretty much it.
As far as other details, like specific labs and some of those comorbidities and other medications, the nurse can look up that information. You're really going to focus on those essential things when you are giving report to a nurse.
Hopefully, this video has been helpful. It takes some practice to get really good at report but I know you can do it. If you can, have your Nurse's Brain in front of you to keep track of stuff. But again, don't go through everything. Just focus on those few vital pieces of information that I shared in this video.
If this video's been helpful be sure to like, subscribe, leave your comments here and I look forward to seeing you soon. Thanks so much for watching!
