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Running head: TRANSFERRING PATIENT INF 1
Transferring Patient Information During Shift Change
Western Governors University

TRANSFERRING PATIENT INF 2
Transfering Patient Information During Shift Change
Clinical communication between healthcare members must be effective, accurate and
clear to provide safe, accurate and quality patient care. There are several ways information is
passed between nurses at shift change; face-to-face, written, or tape-recorded handover (Tobiano,
Bucknall, Sladden, Whitty, & Chaboyer, 2018). During shift change, nurses transfer important
information about the patient between each other to better understand the past situations, or
current and future needs of the patient.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the different way shift report is handed off
between nurses. For this project, the shift report handoff procedures will be defined, reviewed,
assessed, and examined to identify potential improvements in patient safety and evidence-based
practice research.
A1. Nursing Practice Description
I am employed by Amarillo Community College as a faculty member in the licensed
practical nurse's program. We utilize multiple hospitals and nursing facilities in our town for the
clinical experience of our students. We use these facilities each semester to give the students a
real-life experience of nursing and for hands-on experience as well. A common and important
task that students see every day is the shift change report given at the beginning and end of each
shift. Only one facility that we utilize has nurses that commit to bedside reporting; all other
facilities hand off patient care outside of the patients’ room either in the hallway or a separate
breakroom or by using a tape-recorded message.
A2. Why Nursing Practice Needs to Change

TRANSFERRING PATIENT INF 3
Amarillo College teaches the importance of accurate handoff information between nurses
and encourages the students to understand that handoff reports are not always accurate or
complete. It is important for the students to never depend on them as the only method of
knowing the patient’s status. We emphasize to our students the importance of physical
assessments for the accurate status of the patients, with the shift report being a tool only, not an
absolute. Nurse educators stress the importance of using bedside handover yet students are
resistant because the nurses they precept with can be resistant to bedside reporting. Nurses
dislike bedside reporting because of several common beliefs; it takes longer to conduct report at
the patient’s bedside, the patients do not want to be interrupted, repetition of information, and
concerns about breaching confidentiality (Tobiano et al., 2018). However, the advantages of
bedside reporting are numerous. This type of handoff allows the patient to contribute to the
report actively and promote an opportunity for patient engagement and patient-centered care,
(Whitty, Spinks, Bucknall, Tobiano, & Chaboyer, 2016).