Acute care toolkit 1: Handover

Abstract

Handover is the system by which the responsibility for immediate and ongoing care is transferred between healthcare professionals. Patients expect, and should have, a designated consultant and nurse to coordinate the multidisciplinary team. However, at times (eg night, weekends or during an emergency admission) the responsibility for care must pass from one team, or consultant, to another. Background Handover, particularly of temporary 'on-call' responsibility, has been identifi ed as a point at which errors are likely to occur. Failure in handover is a major preventable cause of patient harm, and is principally due to the human factors of poor communication and systemic error. These can lead to ineffi ciencies, repetitions, delayed decisions, repeated investigations, incorrect diagnoses, incorrect treatment, and poor communication with the patient.