Patient Participation During Nursing Bedside Handover: A State-of-the-Art Review

Background: Patient participation during Nursing Bedside Handover (NBH) is a dyadic interaction between the patient and nurses that allows the patient to participate, either passively or actively, in communication activities and nursing care. Objective: This state-of-the-art (SotA) review aimed to synthesize current knowledge on patient participation during NBH and identify future directions for bedside handover research. Methods: The literature search was conducted through PubMed, CINAHL Complete, and Scopus, and was supplemented by citation searching. Search was limited to peer-reviewed scientific articles using any empirical study design that addressed patient participation during NBH published in English by August 2025. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results: A total of 50 primary research articles were included and examined using the method of constant comparisons. The synthesized data were categorized into three main themes: (a) Domain of distinctive nature and attributes of patient participation during NBH; (b) domain of nurses' practices and influencing factors of patient participation during NBH; and (c) domain of strategies and impacts of increasing patient participation during NBH. Within each domain, research trends were identified concerning patient participation in NBH. Future research directions are presented within each domain. Conclusions: The findings of this review may provide new insights into developing complex interventions aimed at increasing patient participation in NBH by nurses, namely with the use of co-design strategies, as well as the adoption of transfer protocols that incorporate informational and interactional components and assessment tools to measure patient participation in NBH.