Patients' perspectives of bedside nursing handover

Area of Science:

• Nursing care quality
• Patient-centered care

Background:

• Patient participation in handover is key to patient-centered care.
• Understanding patient perspectives helps nurses tailor bedside handovers.
• Encouraging patient involvement fosters shared decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine patient perspectives on participating in shift-to-shift bedside nursing handover.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive case study of 10 patients in a Queensland hospital.
• Explored patient views on handover benefits, limitations, roles, and confidentiality.
• Thematic content analysis of collected data.

Main Results:

• Patients felt acknowledged as care partners.
• Bedside handover allowed patients to correct information inaccuracies.
• Some patients preferred passive involvement over active engagement.
• Patients appreciated the inclusive nurse-patient interaction during handover.

Conclusions:

• Bedside handover enables active patient participation in care.
• Patients value continuous access to information.
• Varying levels of interaction are preferred, but patients see their role as vital for accuracy.
• Involvement in handover promotes safe, high-quality nursing care.