Not what needs to be done. Not which labs are pending. Not which patient is annoying, demanding, confused, or likely to hit the call light every six minutes. Just: what are you worried about? I picked it up from an older ICU nurse I floated with. Her report was otherwise incredibly boring and efficient, but before the offgoing nurse left she always asked that question. The answers were surprisingly useful. Sometimes it was clinical: “Nothing has changed enough to call anyone, but I don't like how much sleepier he's gotten.” Sometimes it was logistical: “The daughter is coming at 0900 and thinks she's meeting the doctor, but nobody actually arranged that.” Sometimes it was basically intuition: “Bed 12 looks fine on paper. I just don't trust how fine.” Obviously none of that replaces assessment, chart review, orders, vitals, etc. Half the time the answer is genuinely “nothing.” But I've noticed people will tell you something different when you ask about concern instead of asking whether there's “anything else.” “Anything else?” gets you tasks. “What are you worried about?” gets you the thing that's been sitting in the back of someone's head for four hours. I've also become much more aware of what I say when someone asks me the same question. It forces me to separate “this patient irritated me all night” from “there is actually something here I want another nurse watching.” Do any of you have one question or tiny ritual at handoff that consistently gives you information the standard report somehow misses?   submitted by   /u/Hollow_Crouton_433 [link]   [comments]