Brief educational intervention improves content of intern handovers

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Communication Skills

Background:

• Residency programs must ensure safe patient handovers and document resident competency.
• Evidence-based curricula for resident handover skills are scarce.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the immediate and sustained impact of a brief educational intervention on pediatrics intern handover skills.

Main Methods:

• A 1-hour workshop on high-quality handovers using the SAFETIPS format was delivered to pediatrics interns.
• Handover quality was evaluated via simulated encounters pre-intervention, 2 weeks post-intervention, and 7 months post-intervention.
• Two blinded observers scored videotaped encounters, assessing information inclusion and communication behaviors.

Main Results:

• Intern reporting of patient acuity significantly improved post-intervention (13% to 92%) and was maintained at 7 months.
• The intervention did not lead to improvements in key communication behaviors like paraphrasing critical information.

Conclusions:

• A brief educational workshop promoting standardized handovers effectively improved essential information delivery during intern handovers.
• These improvements in handover content were sustained long-term, though communication behaviors were not significantly affected.