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bedside handover. Is it good to return to this old practice?

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Author bedside handover. Is it good to return to this old practice?

intheparks

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  • Joined: May 2008
  • Location: Brisbane
  • Posts: 1

Sat May 24, 2008 3:05 pm

Hi all, this is my first post. I thought I would ask people about bedside handovers. The new nurse educator on my ward would like to bring back bedside handover. She believes it will prevent client harm and improve communication between nurses and patients so clients will be a part of care received and will know what their overall 'plan' is. Before I give my views, I would like to know what you think. That way I won't influence responses. I am particularly interested in hearing from people who have had experience with bedside handover, good and bad.

Thanks,

Beck

lokisare

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  • Joined: Sep 2007
  • Location:
  • Posts: 37

May 25, 2008, 07:35 am

For me it depends on the type of ward and the type of ward nursing. In my most recent placement the ward next door did bedside handovers and most people disliked it - it was an acute medical ward so ratios of 1:4 and when one nurse has her break or has to leave the ward to collect a patient etc then other nurses end up answering buzzers for patients they know nothing about. The result is things like patients weight bearing who shouldn't, eating/drinking when they are NBM or nurses simply not wanting to help out patients that aren't their's. I also think that every nurse should have basic handover on every patient in case something goes wrong - ie. if a code is called and you are left to look after 8 patients during the code, or if you have to go and help with the code and know nothing about the patient.

I've also worked div 2 on a rehab ward where they did "bedside" (still in the staff room but only handing over your patients) handover and I was teamed with a div 1 and we had 10 patients. This wasn't an issue as when she went to break I was still there and vice-versa. Althought not being an acute ward things were less likely to go pear-shaped quickly. I had no problems with it in this context.

I've also worked in paeds where they do both, you get a general handover from the NIC on the whole ward then you get bedside handover from the nurse you are taking over from on your specific patients. This is good because you don't get all the nitty gritty on patients that you aren't looking after but you get an overall idea of what's going on in the ward. It also means you can get more detail from the nurse you are taking over from without everyone else having to sit through it.

Anyway just my two cents

tropicana

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tropicana
  • Joined: Mar 2007
  • Location:
  • Posts: 62

May 26, 2008, 05:43 pm

We have a full ward handover given by either the person in charge of the shift, or by each individual nurse taking care of his/her patients. This is done in a private place that patients are not allowed to enter...

I don't like bedside handover. How does one explain in front of a patient that the doctors are suspecting Ca, or that the patient is exhibiting aggressive behaviour, or may need to be sectioned etc etc. I hate even doctors doing it. Fair enough if a patient is in a single room, but even pulling the curtains around the patient does not prevent the other people in the room from hearing what the team have to say.

Liz

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  • Joined: Sep 2007
  • Location: Brisbane
  • Posts: 79

May 30, 2008, 12:16 am

My ward does a bedside handover which I find is annoying in some ways. I was talking about it to the educator the other day and she said that it gives you a chance to check PCAs etc together and introduce the patient to the nurse so the patient doesnt go oh where did so and so go?

But i dont lke the fact that you dont get a idea of who is on the ward apart from what the diagnosis is on the bed list. Its annoying when you get a phone call from a relative and you dont know anything about the patient and so you have to find the nurse who may be rather busy to come and talk to that person on the phone.

And it doesnt help when you have people go on breaks, you dont knw what is going on. But then again when people go on breaks most of the stuff has been done and its just maybe answering buzzers to get pans etc....

For handing over to night staff, we handover in the tea room.

One weekend shift i did, the whole staff went around and got handover, just coz we were short staffed. The toher day when i did my first wknd morning, we got handover in the tea room.

SA Nurse

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  • Joined: Jul 2008
  • Location: Alberton, South Africa
  • Posts: 3

Jul 14, 2008, 02:39 am

Hi

We do Bedside Handover in our Trauma surgical Ward in South Africa. I like this sort of handover because you get to see the patient first hand, check the charts and IV's and ensure all the previous shifts work has been complete. If we suspect TB, HIV or CA we will discuss it outside the door prior to entering.

It also gives the patient time to see all the staff that are on duty for that shift.

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