Bedside Shift Review Paper

Words: 727
Pages: 3

Bedside shift report is one of the most important aspects of patient handoff. This paper focuses on evidence of the effects of bedside shift report. Most units in hospitals currently require bedside shift report. It has been stated that this prevents fewer errors and allows the patient and family to be involved in patient care. The question is, is this true? While reviewing literature pertaining to bedside shift report, six articles were chosen. Of those six articles, four are systematic reviews and the other two consisted of completed surveys. The systematic reviews provide the most evidence-based data. Systematic reviews are a summary of studies that have been completed. The findings from those studies are thoroughly analyzed and integrated into a conclusion to generate a new claim (Brown, 2014). For this specific review paper, systematic reviews that summarized the effects of bedside shift report were chosen. The evidence pyramid suggests that systematic reviews provide the most accurate data, which is why it is located toward the top. The systematic reviews along with the surveys chosen, provide this review with useful evidence when addressing the PICOT question. The …show more content…
Patients felt more involved in their care and nurses could better prioritize their shift work leading to more accountability. Cairns, Dudjak, Hoffmann, and Lorenz’s (2013) survey also found that bedside report increases patient satisfaction and a reduction in call light usage was a result. Although both surveys provide useful evidence for answering the PICOT question, they are not as strong as the systematic reviews. Both surveys conducted were done in single unit hospitals over a short period of time, limiting their results. When results are limited, it provides less accurate data. This is why surveys are not at the top of the evidence-based