Assessing intern handover processes.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Clinical Communication

Background:

• The 2011 resident work hour standards increased patient handovers, presenting challenges for residency training programs.
• There is a need for improved educational strategies to optimize patient handover processes for better care quality and safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate current gaps in patient handover processes performed by medicine interns.
• To identify areas for improvement in resident training regarding patient handovers.

Main Methods:

• Trained observers collected data on handover practices at two academic medical centers.
• Data included face-to-face conduct, question asking, location privacy, written documentation, distractions, and interruptions.
• Statistical analysis used chi-square tests, adjusted for clustering.

Main Results:

• Handovers were predominantly face-to-face (99.5%), included written documentation (95.8%), and occurred in private locations (91%).
• Questions were asked in 85.3% of handovers, and distractions were minimal (87.7%).
• Interruptions were frequent, occurring 41.3% of the time.

Conclusions:

• Medicine interns generally adhere to best practices during patient handovers, with notable exceptions.
• Frequent interruptions during handovers pose a significant risk to patient care and safety.
• Addressing program-specific gaps is essential for developing effective teaching strategies to optimize resident handovers.