Standardisation Strategies for Nursing Handovers in Paediatric Hospitalisation: A Scoping Review.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Communication

Background:

• Standardizing nursing handovers is recommended by WHO and The Joint Commission to reduce patient safety incidents.
• Effective communication during nursing handovers is vital for patient safety and quality of care in hospital settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and synthesize existing evidence on strategies for standardizing nursing handovers in pediatric hospital settings.
• To evaluate the impact of standardized nursing handover strategies on communication, safety, and quality of care.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review was conducted in December 2022, searching Medline, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and CINAHL databases for studies published between 2012 and 2022.
• Inclusion criteria focused on professional nurses and hospitalisation, excluding intensive care and medical professionals. PRISMA-ScR guidelines were followed.

Main Results:

• Nineteen studies were included in the final synthesis, revealing limited evidence specifically for pediatric nurse-to-nurse inpatient settings.
• Commonly used structured communication tools include SBAR, I-PASS, and Flex 11, with assessment instruments like Handoff CEX Scale and Handover Evaluation Scale used for quality evaluation.

Conclusions:

• Structured communication tools may enhance information transfer and perceived handover quality in pediatric settings.
• Further adaptation and validation of these tools in pediatric inpatient nursing contexts are necessary due to limited specific evidence.