Handover education improves skill and confidence

Despite the frequency of patient-care handovers and vulnerability to errors, medical schools infrequently teach handover skills. Our study evaluated the impact of a medical school handover curriculum on students' performance, as rated by faculty members, peers and self-assessment.

Nineteen fourth-year medical students participated in a handover curriculum that included a workshop and three directly observed patient handovers, with feedback from faculty members. Multivariate repeated-measures analysis evaluated faculty member, peer, and self-rated performance over time. Students' self-assessed confidence in performing handovers prior to, at the end of, and 8-12 months after the curriculum was also analysed.

Faculty member, peer and self-assessments showed that students' performance significantly improved after the curriculum, on handover content, clinical judgment and overall performance (p < 0.05). Students rated the curriculum as effective and characterised themselves as more prepared to perform handovers, with these findings persisting for 8-12 months (p ≤ 0.001). Medical schools infrequently teach handover skills DISCUSSION: A handover curriculum appears to improve medical students' handover performance, as evaluated by independent ratings from faculty members, peers and the students themselves, in addition to improving the students' confidence.