Development and implementation of a standardised emergency department intershift handover tool to improve physician communication.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Structured handover can reduce communication breakdowns and potential medical errors. In our emergency department (ED) we identified a safety risk due to variation in quality and content of overnight handovers between physicians.

Aim

Our goal was to develop and implement a standardised ED-specific handover tool using quality improvement (QI) methodology. We aimed to increase the proportion of patients having adequate handover information conveyed at overnight shift change from a baseline of 50%-75% in 4 months.

Methods

We used published best practices, stakeholder input and local data to develop a tool customised for intershift ED handovers. Implementation methods included education, cognitive aids, policy change and plan-do-study-act cycles informed by end

SUBMITTER: Kwok ESH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7011887 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature