I received a complimentary issue of AJN and could hardly put it down. I couldn't agree more with your editorial ("Shift to Shift," September 2004). I'm a nursing student, and I have seen nurses struggling through tape-recorded reports. Here are some of the problems I've observed: the tape recorder was broken; the tape had been erased; the tape itself was broken; the nurse giving the report spoke too quickly to be understood; a nurse's heavy dialect made her difficult to understand. Had any of these exchanges been made nurse to nurse, the report would have been completed in a timely manner, all questions would have been answered, and all ambiguous language would have been clarified.

Kimberly DiYanni

McKees Rocks, PA