Ineffective Patient Handover

Introduction

Patient handovers are defined as “the transfer of information and professional responsibility and accountability between individuals and teams” (Jeffcott, 2009). Patient handover failures are common and can lead to delays in care and often precipitate adverse events.

Patient handover is generally composed of the patient’s medical history, their current health presentation and any tasks that still need to be performed. The patient’s historical information provides details about the patient’s diagnosis and anything the team needs to know about their treatment plan such as diet, isolation precautions, assistance needed for daily living and any barriers to education or discharge. The patient’s current presentation should discuss

The information provided during patient handovers influences the delivery of care for the entire shift. Ineffective patient handover can lead to improper treatment, adverse events, increased health care costs, patient dissatisfaction, and increased length of stay in the hospital setting. Research has suggested that patient handover is a critical point for communication problems. A “largescale European Commission project has found that handover communication is responsible for 25% to 40% of adverse events" (Eggins, 2015).

Work responsibilities in the hospital setting have created a need for improved patient handover. Enhanced training and electronic systems for effective patient handover are essential to maintain high standards of patient care.

In the Outpatient Surgery (OPS) unit where I work there was a continual occurrence of missed information during patient handover during the same day surgical process. I suggested having a uniform patient handover sheet that would contain pertinent information to ensure proper care for the patient during the same day surgical process. Eighty-three percent of the OPS staff agreed that a standardized patient handover was needed and they would happily accept the

There were many consistencies with the requests which made identifying the desired information easy and I began creating my initial draft of the handover sheet. I sent the handover sheet out for unit review with a deadline for unit feedback to be discussed at the next committee meeting slated in one week. At the following committee meeting, all Perioperative Service units with the exception of the OR representatives were present and revisions were made based on nursing staff feedback. I provided the updated handover sheet (Appendix A) to the Perioperative Services Staff later that same day with the request that utilization of the standardized handover sheet begin immediately. I scheduled another committee meeting in ten days to gather feedback from the units regarding the usage of the handover sheet.