Barriers and facilitators to nursing handoffs: Recommendations for redesign

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Communication
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Communication errors during nursing handoffs can cause adverse events and impact patient care.
• Existing literature offers limited guidance for redesigning effective nursing handoff processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify specific factors that limit and facilitate nursing end-of-shift reports.
• To provide recommendations for improving nursing handoff processes.

Main Methods:

• A semistructured interview format was used to gather insights from twenty nurses.
• Nurses were questioned about their current reporting processes, limitations, facilitators, and suggestions for improvement.

Main Results:

• Limitations identified include inadequate information, inconsistent quality, insufficient time, interruptions, and equipment issues.
• Facilitators of effective handoffs were pertinent content, note-taking capabilities, face-to-face interaction, and structured forms/checklists.

Conclusions:

• Redesign recommendations involve defining unit-specific pertinent content and standardizing information delivery.
• Embedding opportunities for questions, planning for all handoff subprocesses, and implementing peer evaluations are crucial for improved handoffs.