Communication determined the majority of handover quality. Teamwork and situation awareness also provided an independent contribution to the overall quality rating. The HPT has demonstrated good validity and reliability providing evidence that it can be easily used by raters with different backgrounds and in several clinical settings. The HPT could be utilized to assess doctors' handover quality systematically, as well as teaching tool in medical schools or in continuing professional development programmes for self-reflective practice.

Currently available medication PILs are inappropriate for use by older adults to manage their medications effectively, which could adversely affect patient safety and adherence to drug therapy.

Mindfulness Reflective Practice could therefore represent an important element in pre-registration education and continual professional development for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.

Pharmacy services have developed to support service provision in EDs with similar roles to in-patient pharmacists. Pharmacy services in some EDs are now extensive with funded, full-time pharmacy posts but pharmacy service review is required to optimise ED patient care where there is limited or no current pharmacy input. New pharmacy services must fit with local ED service models and skill mix. Evaluation of these new services is vital to maximise benefit to patients and the NHS.

Objectives The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the use of a portfolio and discuss the evidence for the impact of a portfolio on professional practice, in particular pharmacy practice. Method A literature review was performed using databases from health care and education, namely AMED, BEI, CINAHL, Embase, ERIC, IPA, MedLine, PHARM-LINE, PsycInfo, TIMELIT and ZETOCs, as well as a manual search of relevant journals and documents between 1991 and 2007. The search terms included portfolio, progress files and assessment, and these were linked with pharmacy. Articles were included in the review if they had a focus on the portfolio as a contribution to professional practice. Key findings Portfolios have been used in the education field for over decade. A total of 26 out of 1901 papers were identified which examined portfolios in a post-registration setting. The majority of these publications were from medicine (12), with education (six), pharmacy (five) and nursing (three) making up a small proportion. Portfolios were seen as (a) a tool for use in feedback, (b) a useful trigger for reflection and (c) a link between academic learning and practice. A similar set of findings were seen in the educational context. In addition, a portfolio (a) requires motivation to record and (b) can change behaviour towards colleagues. Conclusions There is still confusion about the meaning of a professional portfolio in health care professions. It is suggested that portfolios should be classified according to a modified system from the teaching profession. The evidence that portfolios can contribute to practice is limited. This review suggests the need for more studies into the impact of portfolios on professional practice, in particular in a pharmacy context.