Change of shift report and daily bedside rounding as guidelines for planning nursing assistance

Abstract

This is a report based on the experience of nursing students from a public nursing school (UFMG Nursing School). The students were registered in a supervised apprenticeship program at a university hospital. Following the students' admission in the unit and the preparation of the situational diagnosis, the importance of the shift report and bedside rounding was presented as the primary administrative tools for planning and evaluating the nursing assistance. The study' objectives were the review of the institution's current technical instructions concerning shift report and the elaboration of a technical instruction scheme for bedside rounding. The methodology was based on the strategic planning proposed by Cecílio (1997). The study enabled thestudentsto have an broadened viewpoint about shift report and bedside rounds as tools for planning, executing and evaluating nursing assistance as well as the use of technical instructions as a nursing activity guideline to health professionals in his/her service unit. It must be highlighted the nurses' contribution to the study's development and their co-responsibility in thetechnical instruction implementation that will promote changes in nursing ca re systematization in the unit. Such changeswill enable the change shift report and bedside rounding activities during the three hospital shifts. The experience was an opportunity for the students to practice in a systematic way how to coordinate nursing care in a hospital unit