Improvements in clinical handover: what next?

Handover from the ambulance crew to emergency department (ED) staff is an important component in the patient’s care pathway. In recent years, this process has been the focus of several research studies; so what can this qualitative study add to the body of evidence?

This study aimed to explore handover processes between ambulance and ED staff and to identify factors that impact on this event with a view to making recommendations in order to improve the quality of clinical handover.

The study used a focussed ethnographic approach which facilitates the exploration of specific elements of cultural behaviour rather than exploring a total cultural system as would be undertaken in a classic ethnography.

Methods included; observation of 38 handovers (involving eight student paramedics, 26 paramedics; 30 nurses and ten medical officers), 20 interactive interviews, either individual or in pairs (involving two student paramedics, 20 paramedics; seven nurses and two medical officers), and examination of the handover tools that were being used in one hospital in Queensland, Australia.