The effect of a checklist on the quality of post-anaesthesia patient handover: a randomized controlled trial

TY - JOUR

T1 - The effect of a checklist on the quality of post-anaesthesia patient handover: a randomized controlled trial

AU - Salzwedel, Cornelie

AU - Bartz, Hans-Jürgen

AU - Kühnelt, Ina

AU - Appel, Daniel

AU - Haupt, Oliver

AU - Maisch, Stefan

AU - Schmidt, Gunter Nils

PY - 2013/4/1

Y1 - 2013/4/1

N2 - OBJECTIVE: Patient handover is an important element of continuity, quality and safety in patient care. Handover without standardized protocols is prone to information loss and might be a possible danger to patient safety. Checklists are established methods that help to structure complex processes in other high-risk fields such as aviation. In the past few years, their implementation has attracted research interest in medicine. We hypothesize that a checklist for handover between anaesthesiologist and post-anaesthesia care unit nurse will increase the amount of information transfer during patient handover after anaesthesia.DESIGN AND SETTING: A total of 120 post-anaesthesia patient handovers were recorded on video and analyzed. Forty handovers before the implementation of the checklist and 80 after the implementation of the checklist, randomized into two groups: with and without the use of the checklist.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: An overall number of items handed over, handover of specific items and duration of the handover were analyzed.RESULTS: With the use of the written checklist, the overall items handed over increased significantly from a median of 32.4-48.7%. The duration of handover increased from a median of 86-121 s. Instructions about items that should be included in handovers, but without the use of a written checklist, was not associated with an increase in the number of items handed over or duration of the interview.CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the use of a checklist for post-anaesthesia handover might improve the quality of patient handover by increasing the information handed over.

AB - OBJECTIVE: Patient handover is an important element of continuity, quality and safety in patient care. Handover without standardized protocols is prone to information loss and might be a possible danger to patient safety. Checklists are established methods that help to structure complex processes in other high-risk fields such as aviation. In the past few years, their implementation has attracted research interest in medicine. We hypothesize that a checklist for handover between anaesthesiologist and post-anaesthesia care unit nurse will increase the amount of information transfer during patient handover after anaesthesia.DESIGN AND SETTING: A total of 120 post-anaesthesia patient handovers were recorded on video and analyzed. Forty handovers before the implementation of the checklist and 80 after the implementation of the checklist, randomized into two groups: with and without the use of the checklist.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: An overall number of items handed over, handover of specific items and duration of the handover were analyzed.RESULTS: With the use of the written checklist, the overall items handed over increased significantly from a median of 32.4-48.7%. The duration of handover increased from a median of 86-121 s. Instructions about items that should be included in handovers, but without the use of a written checklist, was not associated with an increase in the number of items handed over or duration of the interview.CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the use of a checklist for post-anaesthesia handover might improve the quality of patient handover by increasing the information handed over.

KW - Aged

KW - Aged, 80 and over

KW - Anesthesia Recovery Period

KW - Checklist

KW - Continuity of Patient Care

KW - Humans

KW - Patient Handoff

KW - Patient Safety

KW - Prospective Studies

KW - Video Recording

U2 - 10.1093/intqhc/mzt009

DO - 10.1093/intqhc/mzt009

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 23360810

VL - 25

SP - 176

EP - 181

JO - INT J QUAL HEALTH C

JF - INT J QUAL HEALTH C

SN - 1353-4505

IS - 2

ER -