Moving Shift Report to the Bedside: An Evidence-Based Quality Improvement Project

A Midwestern, 532-bed, acute care, tertiary, Magnet® designated teaching hospital identified concerns about fall rates and patient and nurse satisfaction scores. Research has shown that the implementation of bedside report has increased patient safety and patient and nurse satisfaction. An evidence-based practice change incorporating bedside report into standard nursing care was implemented and evaluated over a four-month time period on three nursing units. Fall rates, HCAHPS and Press Ganey® scores, and nurses’ response to a satisfaction survey were measured before and after the project implementation. This article begins with the background of the problem and literature review, and then presents the project methods, measures, and data analysis. Results demonstrated that patient fall rates decreased by 24%, and nurse satisfaction improved with four of six nurse survey questions (67%) having percentage gains in the strongly agree or agree responses following implementation of bedside report. HCAHPS and Press Ganey® results demonstrated improvement in Press Ganey® scores on two of the three nursing units. In this project, implementation of bedside report had a positive impact on patient safety, patient satisfaction, and nurse satisfaction. The authors conclude with discussion of findings and implications for nursing management.