Since the inception of bedside reporting, either from nurse to nurse, nurse aid to nurse aid, and even physicians to physicians (more commonly known as team rounds), it has been reported that incidence medical errors have gone down. During the bedside shift report, the oncoming staff only has a few minutes to go through the patient 's medical electronic chart and read about the patient 's medical history and current medical status. In reading the patient chart, the summary does not always provide a clear picture of the patient 's current medical status. Bedside report, however, allows the outgoing staff to explain the patient 's current condition, baseline or abnormal status, current concerns, the condition of any (surgical) wound sites and any potential red flags that the oncoming staff should be aware of. Furthermore, according to Reinbeck and Fitzsimons …show more content…
As with any new or change in practice, medical staff members, due to inexperience, also encountered some problems with the practice of bedside reporting. Medical providers are entrusted with a vast amount of medical information regarding their patients and are expected to keep this information in a confidential manner. In a 2016 study by Hastings, Suter, Bloom and Sharma, the nurse found that "Bedside shift reports were a challenge at times...privacy in shared rooms was a concern," (p. 5). However, with bedside report, any staff, inexperience with the practice of bedside report or staff in a rush to get off their shift, may start providing end of shift bedside report to oncoming staff without considering the presence of other people in the room alongside the patient. Some patient rooms are still semi-private, holding two patients in a room with only two curtains separating them apart. Vocal sounds can easily travel from one portion of the room to the other portion of the room. Providing bedside report about one patient in this condition may violate upholding the patient 's medical confidentiality. This has occurred multiple times, where an outgoing nurse has provided bedside report to an oncoming nurse without considering who is on the other side of the curtain (another patient and visitor(s)). On one instance, after hearing the other patient 's diagnosis and history, the patient who overheard the bedside report had asked for another room