The Quality of Hand Over Score (QHS) gives an indication of the overall quality of the handover. This was good in fewer than half the cases, and bad in one-®fth of cases brought to the PACU.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists issued a series of standards for postanaesthesia care in 1988 [5], these include the standards for handover to the PACU nurse. Protocols for handover are also mentioned in books on postanaesthesia recovery [6, 7].
This survey has identi®ed factors that need attention to improve the quality of handover and care of the patient in the PACU. I suggest that a handover protocol should include the following:
1 All unconscious patients should be brought to the PACU breathing high concentration inspired oxygen in the lateral position.
2 Important and relevant information should be communicated verbally to the PACU nurse.
3 The anaesthetist should stay in the PACU to see the ®rst recording of vital signs and oxygen saturation and not leave until the patient is in a stable and satisfactory condition.
4 Postoperative instructions should be clear to the PACU nurse.
5 The anaesthetist should review the patient before transfer to the ward.
In this survey, I assessed the quality of hand over by quantifying various indicators. However, some other factors, which could be considered important for the quality of handover (e.g. patent IV line), were not considered in this survey. The purpose of this survey is to highlight the issue of Ôquality of handoverÕ and the important factors that in¯uence it.