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Assessment of Healthcare Practitioners’ Insight into the Handover of Patients and its Implications for the Safety of Patients


Peter Waibode Alabrah1*, Dennis Oju Allagoa1, and Anthony Okeoghene Eguvbe2

1Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Nigeria; and 2Dept of Community Medicine, Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Nigeria. 

*Correspondences: alabrahpee@gmail.com (Peter Waibode Alabrah, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Nigeria).

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ABSTRACT

Inadequate and Indiscernible interpersonal communication between healthcare professionals or groups of professionals is a main causal factor in errors and procedural mistakes in medical practice, and this undermines the safety of patients. The study assessed healthcare providers’ insight into the handover of patients and how this impacts patient safety. A cross-sectional survey was utilized with a sample size of 400, equally divided between nurses and doctors. A well-structured questionnaire was used to elicit the required information. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 statistical package. The study revealed that the majority of the respondents had no formal training on patient handover (56.3% vs. 43.7%). Respondents were aware that ineffective communication at handover impacts negatively on patient safety. The traditional method of handover is practiced and the most employed type (77%) and method (54%) of communication is the combined written verbal method. The obstacles to effective communication at handover were time constraints, excess workload, fatigue, and distraction. It was concluded that the insight of healthcare providers about handover and its impact on patient handover is passable and it can be improved upon by including handover in the training curriculum of nursing/medical students, regular refresher courses for practicing nurses/doctors to equip them with the skills that will advance both the content and communication at handover. 

Keywords: Handover, Safety, Healthcare practitioners, Patients, Patient care, Patient safety, and Communication.

Citation: Alabrah PW, Allagoa DO, and Eguvbe AO. (2021). Assessment of healthcare practitioners’ insight into the handover of patients and its implications for the safety of patients, Eur. J. Med. Health Sci., 3(2), 27-34. 

https://doi.org/10.34104/ejmhs.021.027034


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