What are critical points to communicate during a shift report or hand-off communication?

Question

a. Patient name, current physical status, ac-tivities that have contributed to current status, problems that have occurred during the shift, nursing care to address problems, and a readback or response
b. Patient name, room number and date of birth, changes in current orders, provider's visits, laboratory tests that have been completed, and physical activity of the patient
c. Patient name, health care provider, diag-nosis, review of all current orders, family visits and involvement in care, review of history leading to hospitalization, and current status of the patient
d. Physician orders for past 24 hours, patient name and date of birth, medical and social history prior to hospitalization, and review of health problems since hospitalization

Answer 1

A
According to the I-SBAR-R tool—Identification (patient name), Situation (current physical sta-tus), Background (activities that contributed to current status), Assessment (problems that oc-curred during shift), Recommendation (nursing care to address problems), Readback or Response (receiver acknowledges information)—these are critical areas. All of the other options contain items that are not critical to a shift report.