A workshop to introduce residents to effective handovers

Patient safety is associated with the quality of handover, yet many residents train in settings that lack a formal procedure for handover. Thus, they have few opportunities to observe or participate in effective practices. The purpose of our project was to design an educational experience that would introduce residents to the essentials of an effective handover.

Through a review of the literature, conversations with our residents and teaching doctors, and needs analysis survey, we determined that a formal, didactic, large group, face-to-face educational experience focusing on lower-level educational objectives would meet the needs of our learners.

Our curriculum development culminated in a 90-minute, multifaceted workshop comprising a brief introduction to handover, a dramatisation of effective and ineffective practices, and a role-play activity, followed by a debriefing session.

Objective, constructed response tests, administered before and after the workshop, suggested that the workshop provided residents with the knowledge that a good handover is structured, free of distraction and prioritised. Some of the misconceptions that were apparent at the beginning of the workshop, however, were unchanged by the learning activities.