Introduction
The im mediate postope rat ive period is a time of significant physio logical flux , during whi ch the patien t recov ers
from the acute derange ments resul ting from anaesthesi a
and su rgery. On arrival in the postan aesthesi a care unit
(PACU ), the patien t is re-eval uated by the anaesth esiologist , who then gives a verbal report to the respon sible
nurse. Incom plete or incor rect tran sfer of inform ation at
this point can lead to clinical erro rs.1 It is now well
established that the transfer of information during a
handover is essential to patients’ safety.2,3 In a previous
study, 37% of errors discovered during the transfer
process were associated with verbal exchanges between
the nurses and physicians.4 In another retrospective
study, communication errors were the leading cause of
adverse events and were associated with twice as many
deaths as clinical inadequacy.5
There is a growing body of literature describing the
importance of handovers between various healthcare providers. The importance of examining which data items
health professionals conceive as important to the handover
process has been recognised. However, there are only a few
studies which have examined the interprofessional (e.g.
anaesthesiologist and nurse) quality of patient handover.
With the notable exception of the recently published study
by Nagpal et al.,6 previous studies investigating handover
following surgery have used qualitative assessments
only.7,8 In addition, the evaluation of the transfer process
was performed by a care provider involved in it, which may
have led to observer bias.9
The main purpose of the present study was to examine
the current handover practice between the anaesthesiologists and the PACU staff in a large teaching centre in
order to identify information omissions. As a secondar