Emergency nurses' and paramedics' perspectives on interprofessional communication and handover in Palestinian...

Clinical handover is a major part of everyday work in healthcare settings. Clinical handover plays a great role between emergency medical services (EMS) and emergency nurses in providing safe and quality EMS. This study aims to assess the communication and handover mechanism between EMS and the emergency departments (ED) in Palestinian hospitals, to identify opportunities for improvement, and to make recommendations to improve the handover.

A descriptive, quantitative cross-sectional approach was used in this study. A sample of 220 emergency nurses working in governmental hospital and 130 paramedics working in the Palestine Red Crescent Society were conveniently selected from the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

Our study showed that effective EMS-ED communication was perceived to have a high-degree impact on patient outcomes and patient waiting time in EDs, and a medium-degree impact on the readiness of healthcare providers. One-sample t-tests confirmed that perceived patient outcomes, readiness of healthcare providers, and patient waiting time in EDs were all perceived to be significantly influenced by EMS-ED communication.

Our findings demonstrate that effective EMS-ED communication, as perceived by healthcare providers, significantly influences patient outcomes, healthcare provider readiness, and patient waiting times. The availability of communication tools and the accuracy/adequacy of information are also perceived to significantly impact patient handover effectiveness and patient health/medical procedures, collectively enhancing the perceived quality and efficiency of emergency healthcare services.