Safe handover of a critically unwell patient to intensive care

Summary

Handing over a patient to a team in critical care needs to be clear, concise and safe. Quite often there are distractions from staff moving the patient, attaching monitoring, starting the ventilator, asking questions and general background noise. This can lead to important information being missed, not understood or misinterpreted which could lead to patient harm.

Content

This short video shows how Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has transformed the way that handover is received. By using a simple checklist along with a process, the critically unwell patient can be handed over quickly and safely.

Further reading attached: 

• Standard Operating Procedure for ICU/HDU Handover 
• South East Coast Critical Care Network Critical Care Intrahospital Transfer form

Attachments