Essay Sample on Shift Nurses Handoff Report and Patient Safety

Introduction

A PICOT is a formula that consists of a consistent format that is used by health professionals to develop answerable and researchable questions (Riesenberg, Leisch, & Cunningham, 2010). Health professionals are required to prepare a good PICOT since it helps in making the rest of the processes more manageable. For instance, when health professionals make an effective PICOT, the process of finding and evaluating evidence from patients is made to be much more straightforward. PICOT is initials for population/patient, intervention/indicator, control/comparison, outcome, and time. The document focuses on developing a PICOT on whether shift nurses handoff report increases the safety of patients. Besides, the paper focuses on identifying a clinical question related to my clinical practice and a description of why the subject is a clinical problem. Moreover, the document defines an article that best supports nursing interventions on the chosen topic.

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PICOT Question

Does shift nurse's handoff report increase patient safety?

Handoff is the transfer of vital records and responsibility of the care of a particular patient from one health care provider to another. The PICOT question does not adequately explain the population and the expectations of the patient's outcome. An efficient handoff report requires that nurses indicate all critical information regarding a particular patient for treatment and care. However, when handoff reports are not accurately captured, they increase the risks of patients (Maxson, Derby, Wrobleski,& Foss, 2012). Therefore, the nurse's handoff does improve patient safety as compared to one patient being treated by an individual nurse. Due to the increasing changes in the health sector and the availability of many clinicians, a patient will likely encounter many nurses in the process of care and thus increased numbers of handoffs.

Population

Nurses transfer the accountability and responsibility of nurses during bedside handoff, which happens at the end or change of a shift. During a change of a shift, nurses are provided with an opportunity to improve communication between them and other health professionals such as clinicians and thus increase the safety of patients. Some of the handoff goals for nurses include encouraging patients and their family members on how to actively participate in their care plans. Moreover, while writing handoff reports, nurses listen carefully to their clients for proper recording and treat patients with dignity and respect. In addition, nurses aim at facilitating communication between health professionals through providing a structured timeline for transitioning patients care.

Nurse's handoff report is an opportunity for improving health outcomes in nursing. Handoff reports by nurses provide many benefits to patients as well as health facilities and thus provide an opportunity to improve health outcomes. Nurse's handoff reports offer an opportunity for better results through increased patient involvement and understanding of their care, decreased chances of committing an error and increased accountability, relationships and teamwork among nurses (Wakefield, Ragan, Brandt, & Tregnago, 2012). Besides, nurse's handoff reports provide an opportunity through decreased patient and family feel of anxiety and abandonment at the time of change of shift.

Nurse handoff reports are done at the beginning of a shift. The nurse on duty is provided with a report from the one who is leaving shift to rest. During handoff, patients and their relatives are engaged in developing a healthcare plan as well as answering their questions and concerns. Each unit within the healthcare facility is required to create service-specific items to help in reviewing the patient's condition. Handoff comes to an end when the nurses leave the ward and a compiled report handed over to the nurse on duty.

Intervention

Some of the responses that nurses engage in during handoff include recording blood pressure, temperatures, and weight of patients and advising them accordingly. In addition, nurses intervene through dressing patients and managing their pain (Halm, 2013). However, essential to note is the fact that some interventions done by nurses require orders from doctors while others do not need. Nurses' interventions can be independent, interdependent, or dependent. Independent responses are those that the nurses are able to initiate on their own without orders from doctors. Such interventions include dressing and cleaning of wounds. Dependent interventions are those that nurses cannot do alone and thus require the approval of another health professional such as a physician. Interdependent responses are those that require the participation of multiple professionals within a health facility. Therefore, nurses can intervene in a patient's condition based on the three discussed interventions.

Comparison

The role of a nurse is that of perioperative care and requires the support of other disciplines within the health profession (Jukkala, James, Autrey, Azuero, & Miltner, 2012). Therefore, nurses cannot work in isolation. For instance, they require information from clinicians, doctors, nutritionists, pharmacists, as well as other hospital staff. While compiling the handoff report, nurses should consult and compare their facts with those of staff from other disciplines to ensure patient safety. Conclusively, Maxson, P. M., Derby, K. M., Wrobleski, D. M., & Foss, D. M. (2012) best supports nursing interventions since it outlines many facts which majority of them have been proven to provide desired outcomes effectively.

References

Halm, M. A. (2013). Nursing handoffs: Ensuring safe passage for patients. American Journal of Critical Care, 22(2), 158-162.

Jukkala, A. M., James, D., Autrey, P., Azuero, A., & Miltner, R. (2012). Developing a standardized tool to improve nurse communication during shift report. Journal of nursing care quality, 27(3), 240-246.

Maxson, P. M., Derby, K. M., Wrobleski, D. M., & Foss, D. M. (2012). Bedside nurse-to-nurse handoff promotes patient safety. Medsurg Nursing, 21(3), 140.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Nurses+handoff+report&btnG=

Riesenberg, L. A., Leisch, J., & Cunningham, J. M. (2010). Nursing handoffs: a systematic review of the literature. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 110(4), 24-34.

Wakefield, D. S., Ragan, R., Brandt, J., & Tregnago, M. (2012). Making the transition to nursing bedside shift reports. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 38(6), 243-AP1.