Technology support of the handover: promoting observability, flexibility and efficiency

Efforts to standardise data elements and increase the comprehensiveness of information included in patient handovers have produced a growing interest in augmenting the verbal exchange of information with written communications conducted through health information technology (HIT).

The aim of this perspective is to offer recommendations to optimise technology support of handovers, based on a review of the relevant scientific literature.

Review of the literature on human factors and the study of communication produced three recommendations. The first entails making available "shared knowledge" relevant to the handover and subsequent clinical management with intended and unintended recipients. The second is to create a flexible narrative structure (unstructured text fields) for human-human communications facilitated by technology. The third recommendation is to avoid reliance on real-time data entry during busy periods. Implementing these recommendations is anticipated to increase the observability (the ability to readily determine current status), flexibility, and efficiency of HIT-supported patient handovers.

Anticipated benefits of technology-supported handovers include reducing reliance on human memory, increasing the efficiency and structure of the verbal exchange, avoiding readbacks of numeric data, and aiding clinical management following the handover. In cases when verbal handovers are delayed, do not occur, or involve members of the health care team without first-hand access to critical information, making 'common ground' observable for all recipients, creating a flexible narrative structure for communication and avoiding reliance on real-time data entry during the busiest times has implications for HIT design and day to day data entry and management operations. Benefits include increased observability, flexibility, and efficiency of HIT-supported patient handovers.