Human factors in clinical handover: development and testing of a ‘handover performance tool’ for doctors' shift handovers (6 December 2012)

Summary

This study in the International Journal for Quality in Health Care aimed to develop and test a handover performance tool (HPT) able to help clinicians to systematically assess the quality and safety of shift handovers. The study was conducted in the paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology wards of a UK district hospital. 30 human factor experts participated in the development phase and 62 doctors from various disciplines were asked to validate the tool.

The authors found that, according to the HPT, communication determined the majority of handover quality, with teamwork and situation awareness also important factors in the overall quality rating. They found that the HPT demonstrated good validity and reliability and can be easily used by raters with different backgrounds and in several clinical settings.