Assessing Postoperative Handover Quality Among Nurses Across Surgical and Recovery Units: A Cross-Sectional Study

Inefficient postoperative handovers contribute to medical malpractice and care discontinuity by omitting critical patient information and compromising patient health. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the quality of postoperative nurse handovers in ORs, PACUs, ICUs, and wards across four hospitals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

A descriptive, cross-sectional, comparative study was conducted among postoperative care nurses across four hospitals in the second health cluster in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected through an online questionnaire to assess handover quality via a Handover Quality Rating Form and sociodemographic information. Data analysis was performed using SPSS v28.

Among the 521 nurse participants (84.1% female, M_age = 34.5 years), the overall postoperative handover quality was 76.8%, with handover conduct and quality scoring the highest (27.9 ± 4.8 and 17.7 ± 3.1, respectively). Female nurses demonstrated significantly higher performance in teamwork and handover circumstances, whereas older nurses demonstrated significantly better teamwork, handover conduct, and quality. Saudi and younger nurses experienced significantly higher handover circumstances. Nurses' educational level and years of experience in the present ward were significantly correlated with handover circumstances, conduct, and quality. Handovers from the theater to recovery resulted in higher average circumstances than those from recovery to the ward. The study setting was significantly associated with handover quality.

These findings highlight the importance of local evaluating the handover quality of nurses in various contexts, specifically considering the circumstances, conduct, and teamwork when planning implementation and developing standardized handover protocols for different departments, specialties, and healthcare settings. These results support the development of targeted training programs and unit-specific handover protocols.