Improving the patient experience through bedside shift report - A quality improvement project

Background/Relevance: Without the standardization of bedside shift reports, patient and family involvement in care planning and decision-making is lacking, affecting patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction scores and safe handoff become impacted when not occurring at the bedside, leading to miscommunication and errors. Increasing compliance may promote patient engagement and safety as the nurses discuss the care plan for a safe handoff. Local Problem: The quality improvement project aimed to improve the completion of bedside shift report in patient rooms on a medical-surgical unit. A total of 50 pre-data observations completed by the hospital site Certified Nurse Specialists and Nursing Professional Development Generalists found that bedside shift report was inconsistently occurring on the unit (76% of staff were non-compliant). Method: Education was provided for two weeks to nursing staff on the concept of bedside shift reports. The nursing staff used a bedside handover checklist during shift changes to facilitate communication and consistency. A video demonstration with an electronic attestation form was emailed to staff to track individuals that viewed the video. Unit leadership created a Bedside Shift Report Acknowledgment form to reinforce accountability. Five unit champions (nurses and nursing assistants from each shift) were resources and provided support during the implementation phase. Results/Conclusions: One month after implementation, post-data observations showed an increase of 36% in compliance in bedside shift reports. Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems unit scores for April were nurses explain=80.0% and nurses listen=88.9%. Cipher Rounding unit details for April 2023 showed an increase of 33.7% in positive responses from patients compared to September 2023. Implications for Practice: Leadership support and unit champions to maintain the sustainability of bedside shift report. Adding a checklist as a tool can help nursing staff complete and have consistency during handoff but may need modification based on unit requirements (medical-surgical vs. intensive care unit)