Improving the quality of handover by addressing handover culture and introducing a new, multi-disciplinary, team-based handover meeting.

ABSTRACT: Handover is a "major preventable cause of patient harm"[1] and this project aims to improve the quality of night handover within a teaching hospitals general medicine department, resulting in the safe transfer of patient care to the night team. Quality of handover was assessed both qualitatively, via structured qualitative interviews with trainees and a baseline survey assessing doctor's opinions of night handover, and quantitatively through the collection of a data set during regular observation of night handover. The initial intervention instituted a new handover meeting with a set time and new location and invited the night nurse practitioner to attend. A prompt card, standardised documentation, defined leadership, and an attendance register were also introduced. Successive PDSA cycles

SUBMITTER: Walton H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4693072 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature