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Patient Safety in Surgery pp 235–243Cite as

Handovers: The ‘Hidden Threat’ to Patient Safety

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Abstract

Handover is the process of transfer of clinical patient information between doctors ending their shift and those starting their shift and taking responsibility for patient care. Reduction in working hours had resulted in increased shifts and numbers of handovers thereby risking continuity of care. Research on handover is limited yet ever expanding. Teaching handover is still not a part of the undergraduate curriculum. Handover remains ill defined, and a validated assessment tool is elusive. While there are several drawbacks, we continue to make advances in improving the quality of handover. Teaching programs and assessment tools are being developed. Moves are being made to standardise handover, and IT systems continue to be advanced in order to better support an effective handover.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester, LE1 5WW, UK

    Tom J. Grundy & Nicholas A. Ferran MBBS, MSc, FRCS

Authors
  1. Tom J. Grundy
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  2. Nicholas A. Ferran MBBS, MSc, FRCS
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicholas A. Ferran MBBS, MSc, FRCS .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Philip F. Stahel

  2. Department of Orthopaedics, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Cyril Mauffrey

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag London

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Grundy, T.J., Ferran, N.A. (2014). Handovers: The ‘Hidden Threat’ to Patient Safety. In: Stahel, P., Mauffrey, C. (eds) Patient Safety in Surgery. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4369-7_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4369-7_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-4368-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-4369-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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