Abstract
The purpose of this initiative was to engage clinical nurses through professional governance to increase consistency across the hospital system in completing bedside shift report to improve overall patient safety and satisfaction. A four-hospital system established bedside shift report (BSR) in the early 2000s. In 2022, there was an increase in patient safety events that could have been avoided had BSR been conducted appropriately, identifying it was no longer a standardized nursing practice. In 2023, the Quality and Practice Council created a BSR Task Force (TF) to implement new best practices in BSR, aligning with the goal to examine the positive impact of effective shared decision-making in exemplifying excellence. The BSR TF explored the barriers to consistent BSR practice, created a standard of care that incorporated new best practices and created resources for supporting nurses and units in the re-focus on consistent BSR. A new campaign “Raise the Bar with BSR” included posters and a video by the CNO emphasizing the importance of the practice. Specific new practices included preparing the patient for BSR prior to end of shift, using the electronic medical record to provide BSR using the SBAR format, verifying high risk continuous infusing medications in the record, and performing a patient safety check that included pressing the call bell to ensure bed alarms were working appropriately. The 2022 rate for the percent of patients that said “always” to BSR occurring on the patient experience survey was 50% or less across the system. Following the BSR TF interventions in 2023, the system rate improved to 66%. Each hospital has also seen an increase in their HCAHPS Scores in patients who state nurses “Always” did BSR: 47% to 71% in hospital 1, 53% to 71% in hospital 2, 40% to 69% in hospital 3, and 50% to 60% in hospital 4. This successful improvement in nursing practice aligned with the system’s patient-centered care delivery system, increasing patient experience results and providing a safer, more consistent shift to shift hand-off process across the system. This initiative demonstrates the power of Professional Governance in providing a voice for nursing and the ability to truly own nursing practice. BSR is an important component of patient-centered care and impacts patient satisfaction, safety, and the overall quality of care provided.
Notes
References:
Anshasi, H., & Almayasi, Z. A. (2024). Perceptions of patients and nurses about bedside nursing handover: A qualitative systematic review and meta-Synthesis. Nursing Research and Practice, 2024, 3208747. https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/3208747
Clari, M., Conti, A., Chiarini, D., Martin, B., Dimonte, V., & Campagna, S. (2021). Barriers to and facilitators of bedside nursing handover: A systematic review and meta-synthesis. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 36(4), E51–E58. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000564
Cho, S., Lee, J. L., Kim, K. S., & Kim, E. M. (2022). Systematic review of quality improvement projects related to intershift nursing handover. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 37(1), E8–E14. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000576
Gamp, M., Becker, C., Tondorf, T., et al. (2019). Effect of bedside vs. non-bedside patient case presentation during ward rounds: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 34(3), 447–457. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-018-4714-1
Hada, A., & Coyer, F. (2021). Shift-to-shift nursing handover interventions associated with improved inpatient outcomes-Falls, pressure injuries and medication administration errors: An integrative review. Nursing & Health Sciences, 23(2), 337–351.
Heip, T., Van Hecke, A., Malfait, S., Van Biesen, W., & Eeckloo, K. (2022). The Effects of interdisciplinary bedside rounds on patient centeredness, quality of care, and team collaboration: A systematic review. Journal of Patient Safety, 18(1), e40–e44. https://doi.org/10.1097/PTS.0000000000000695
Malfait, S., Eeckloo, K., Van Biesen, W., & Van Hecke, A. (2019). Barriers and facilitators for the use of nursing bedside shift handovers: Implications for evidence-based practice. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 16(4), 289-298.
McCloskey, R. M., Furlong, K. E., & Hansen, L. (2019). Patient, family and nurse experiences with patient presence during handovers in acute care hospital settings: a systematic review of qualitative evidence. JBI database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, 17(5), 754–792. https://doi.org/10.11124/JBISRIR-2017-003737
O’Donnell, L., George, E., Donnelly, J., Bilderback, A., & Buchanan, D. (2023). Coaching to bedside shift report and its correlation to Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems and value-based purchasing dimension scores. JONA, 53(1), 12-18.
Sigma Membership
Gamma Omicron at-Large
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Acute Care, Implementation Science, Clinical Practice, Promoting Clinical Outcomes, Professional Governance, Bedside Shift Reports
Recommended Citation
Lott, Tanya F. and Jamarik, Marissa, "Raising the Bar with BSR: Bedside Shift Report" (2025). Biennial Convention (CONV). 36.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/convention/2025/posters_2025/36
Conference Name
48th Biennial Convention
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2025-11-21
Raising the Bar with BSR: Bedside Shift Report
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
The purpose of this initiative was to engage clinical nurses through professional governance to increase consistency across the hospital system in completing bedside shift report to improve overall patient safety and satisfaction. A four-hospital system established bedside shift report (BSR) in the early 2000s. In 2022, there was an increase in patient safety events that could have been avoided had BSR been conducted appropriately, identifying it was no longer a standardized nursing practice. In 2023, the Quality and Practice Council created a BSR Task Force (TF) to implement new best practices in BSR, aligning with the goal to examine the positive impact of effective shared decision-making in exemplifying excellence. The BSR TF explored the barriers to consistent BSR practice, created a standard of care that incorporated new best practices and created resources for supporting nurses and units in the re-focus on consistent BSR. A new campaign “Raise the Bar with BSR” included posters and a video by the CNO emphasizing the importance of the practice. Specific new practices included preparing the patient for BSR prior to end of shift, using the electronic medical record to provide BSR using the SBAR format, verifying high risk continuous infusing medications in the record, and performing a patient safety check that included pressing the call bell to ensure bed alarms were working appropriately. The 2022 rate for the percent of patients that said “always” to BSR occurring on the patient experience survey was 50% or less across the system. Following the BSR TF interventions in 2023, the system rate improved to 66%. Each hospital has also seen an increase in their HCAHPS Scores in patients who state nurses “Always” did BSR: 47% to 71% in hospital 1, 53% to 71% in hospital 2, 40% to 69% in hospital 3, and 50% to 60% in hospital 4. This successful improvement in nursing practice aligned with the system’s patient-centered care delivery system, increasing patient experience results and providing a safer, more consistent shift to shift hand-off process across the system. This initiative demonstrates the power of Professional Governance in providing a voice for nursing and the ability to truly own nursing practice. BSR is an important component of patient-centered care and impacts patient satisfaction, safety, and the overall quality of care provided.
Description
Explore the success of a nurse-led task force to update and improve the consistency of bedside shift report, demonstrating the collaborative power of professional governance and nursing ownership of nursing practice.