Assessing Handover Quality in the Emergency Department: Evaluating Communication Between EMS and Triage Nurses Using...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Communication
• Patient Safety
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Patient handover is critical for transferring essential information between prehospital and hospital teams.
• Variability in handover practices necessitates evidence-based strategies for standardization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the quality of patient handover between emergency medical personnel and emergency department triage nurses.
• To identify areas for improvement in the handover process within an emergency department setting.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, single-center descriptive study was conducted.
• The Handoff Clinical Evaluation Exercise (CEX) Italian scale was used to assess 6 domains of handover quality.
• 112 healthcare professionals (51 triage nurses, 62 emergency personnel) participated in evaluating 154 handover transactions.

Main Results:

• A high rate of interruptions (54.5%) occurred during handovers, initiated by both healthcare professionals and others.
• Statistically significant differences were observed in information transfer quality.
• Triage nurses received higher evaluations across all assessed variables compared to emergency medical services personnel.

Conclusions:

• The study highlights critical communication dynamics during patient handover in emergency settings.
• Findings provide a foundation for developing strategies to enhance handover effectiveness and patient safety.
• Further research is needed to explore interventions for improving handover processes in similar clinical environments.