Quality of the handover of patient care: A comparison of Pre-Hospital and Emergency Department notes

Murray, Stephen L.; Crouch, Robert; Ainsworth-Smith, Mark

doi:10.1016/j.ienj.2010.09.004

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…However, hospital records may not necessarily contain clinically relevant information documented by the ambulance staff and handed over by them in the ED [9,12]. The ambulance service patient report form (PRF) contains important documentation of the early phases of care, and because of the dynamic nature of trauma and acute illness this clinical information may be important for the interpretation of clinical findings and treatment strategies after admission.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usage of documented pre-hospital observations in secondary care: a questionnaire study and retrospective comparison of records

Knutsen

Fredriksen

2013

Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med

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BackgroundThe patient handover is important for the safe transition from the pre-hospital setting to secondary care. The loss of critical information about the pre-hospital phase may impact upon the clinical course of the patient.MethodsUniversity Hospital Emergency Care registrars answered a questionnaire about how they perceive clinical documentation from the ambulance services. We also reviewed patient records retrospectively, to investigate to what extent eight selected parameters were transferred correctly to hospital records by clinicians. Only parameters outside the normal range were selected.ResultsThe registrars preferred a verbal handover with hand-written pre-hospital reports as the combined source of clinical information. Scanned report forms were infrequently used. Information from other doctors was perceived as more important than the information from ambulance crews. Less than half of the selected parameters in pre-hospital notes were transferred to hospital records, even for parameters regarded as important by the registrars. Abnormal vital signs were not transferred as often as mechanism of injury, medication administered and immobilisation of trauma patients.ConclusionsData on pre-hospital abnormal vital signs are frequently not transferred to the hospital admission notes. This information loss may lead to suboptimal care.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usage of documented pre-hospital observations in secondary care: a questionnaire study and retrospective comparison of records

Knutsen

Fredriksen

2013

Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med

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“…This same study noted discordance between paramedics’ verbal handovers and their own documentation 29. Elsewhere anomalies between prehospital and in-hospital documentation have been shown: a UK-based study of 100 resuscitation room records reported that 26 had at least one instance where information recorded by the ambulance crew was either omitted or altered during transfer 30. A comparison of patient records conducted in Norway revealed that less than half of patient readings that were outside normal parameters were transferred to the admission documentation 31.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Clinical handovers between prehospital and hospital staff: literature review

et al. 2014

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This review raises concerns about handovers at the interface between prehospital and hospital settings. The quality of existing research in this area is relatively poor and further high-quality research is required to understand this important part of emergency care. We need to understand the complexity of handover better to grasp the challenges of context and interprofessional relationships before we reach for tools and techniques to standardise part of the handover process.

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“…). Finally, 18 papers (Table S1) were included in this review after full‐text screening, 13 from database search and 5 from hand‐search . No Cochrane review or randomized clinical control studies were found on this subject.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several authors identify information loss or gaps in the handover process as leading to possible safety threats or longer stays in the ED …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Handover of patients: a topical review of ambulance crew to emergency department handover

Jensen

Lippert

Østergaard

2013

Acta Anaesthesiol Scand

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Handover has major implications for patient care. The handover process between ambulance and emergency department (ED) staff has been sparsely investigated. The purpose of this paper is, based on a literature review, to identify and elaborate on the major factors influencing the ambulance to ED handover, and to bring suggestions on how to optimize this process. A literature search on handovers to EDs was performed in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane databases. A total of 18 papers were included. Issues regarding transfer of information are highlighted. Newer studies suggest that implementing a structured handover format holds the possibilities for improving the process. Electronic equipment could play a part in reducing problems. Cultural and organizational factors impact the process in different ways. The professions perceive the value and quality of information given differently. Giving and taking over responsibility is an important issue. The handover of patients to the ED has the potential to be improved. Cultural issues and a lack of professional recognition of handover importance need to be approached. Multidisciplinary training in combination with a structured tool may have a potential for changing the culture and improving handover.

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Quality of the handover of patient care: A comparison of Pre-Hospital and Emergency Department notes

Cited by 19 publications

References 8 publications

Usage of documented pre-hospital observations in secondary care: a questionnaire study and retrospective comparison of records

Usage of documented pre-hospital observations in secondary care: a questionnaire study and retrospective comparison of records

Clinical handovers between prehospital and hospital staff: literature review

Handover of patients: a topical review of ambulance crew to emergency department handover

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