Handover communication is ubiquitous in healthcare. All clinicians do this (sometimes several times a ‘shift’) yet it is exceedingly rare that this skill is even taught or evaluated in any of the health professions, much less evaluated (in situ) in multi-disciplinary care settings.” Hill 2010
Transfer of accountability (Handoff) occurs at four key points :
1. Change in Level of Care a. Inpatient admission from the ED or ambulatory care clinic or community b. From ICU to acute care or Acute care to ICU c. From a Clinic to the ED 2. Temporary Transfer of Care a. From an inpatient ward or ED to diagnostic imaging, lab, echo/ cath lab and back 3. Discharge (Transitions) a. Communication to the next care provider (if known) from inpatient unit (phone, letter, discharge summary) b. Communication to the home health care provider(s) c. Communication to the receiving facility 4. Change in Provider or Service a. RN/LPN/RRT at Change of shift report (CoSR) b. Physician / resident signout c. Physician / resident rotation change
Over 2000 reported adverse events from 2010-2012 within Interior Health (IH) are coded by reporters as associated to communication gaps, where reporters answer yes or no to the question: Was handover a factor? (BC-PSLS reporter e-form 2012). Communication gaps in healthcare are associated with > 80 % of adverse events.(JCAHO) Note: This is roughly where aviation was thirty years ago in 1980, see CRM.
Handover communication is a ubiquitous problem. A recent quality improvement study (Hill 2011) in IH involved direct observation of frontline clinicians during change of shift report across IH of 26 interactions on 20 inpatient units from 11 hospitals using cognitive human factors methods. This study, including both nurses and hospital physicians found that there were; No formalized handover processes and no explicit expectations for handovers. Of the 26 interactions there were only 4 interactions (15%), which demonstrated effective communication at handover, defined as;
1. face to face communication, 2. use of minimum datasets, 3. opportunity to ask and answer questions, 4. discussion of intention going forward and 5. *use of anticipatory questions by the receiver. Parke & Miskin 2005 /*Hill 2010
Most clinicians are not explicitly trained how to synthesize and prioritize complex information under time constraint. Much of the limited handoff communication work in our health authority has focused on the local creation of increasingly detailed transfer forms (information transmission sometimes by fax only), however we have largely ignored the importance of the interaction and the art of balancing brevity with relevant information for the receiver. This behavior can and must be trained.