As nursing educators, we emphasize to our students the importance of how observing a patient's physical appearance can help us gather information about their health and emotional condition. We also teach students the necessity of assessing their patient's environment as situational awareness is a key component when considering patient safety. Yet despite these teachings, many times students will be so hyper-focused on assessing their patient, that when asked, cannot recall information about the patient's surroundings.

The “Reading the Room” activity introduces a simple strategy for teaching situational awareness to nursing students and creates an opportunity for students to examine their patient's environment to gather further patient assessment information and identify potential safety hazards.

Before they have viewed their patients’ chart, students are asked to gather all the information they can about their patients’ condition just by assessing the room. Students write down everything they notice such as equipment, supplies, items on the bedside table, and to inspect all areas for potential hazards. When completed, students share their discoveries with their instructor.

Students discuss all that they notice, such as one student found an empty bag of Ceftriaxone on an IV pole, suggesting that the patient may be being treated for a UTI, but also discovered that the IV tubing had expired. Another student noticed his patient had a CPAP machine, suggesting that the patient may have sleep apnea, but found the location of the cord was a tripping hazard.

The activity concludes with an instructor-led student discussion on how reading the room can help us gain information to better assess and improve safety for our patients.