Official journal of the Slovak Society of Cardiology,
Slovak Society of Hypertension and Slovak Association for Cardiac Arrhythmias

Cardiology Letters 2019, 28(2):99-108

Clinical handover of patients for specialized centre care from pre-hospital to in-hospital care - a narrative review

Peran D1,2, Pekara J1,3, Cmorej PCh4,5, Kohlova A5, Marx D2
1 Prague Emergency Medical Services
2 Divisions of Public Health, 3rd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague
3 Medical College, Prague
4 Emergency Medical Services of Usti nad Labem region and
5 Faculty of Health Studies, Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic

Introduction: During the last few years the role of non-technical skills including communication and cognitive aids is becoming more important and also influences pre-hospital care. This narrative review aims to summarize published articles on the information handover from pre-hospital to in-hospital care which is dominantly used in critically ill patients who need centre care (acute coronary syndromes, post resuscitation etc.). Literature search strategy: We undertook a literature search in the Scopus, Cinahl, Ovid and Medline databases, with inclusion and exclusion criteria, to find all articles about clinical handover from pre-hospital to in-hospital care. We found 27 articles which match the inclusion criteria.

Results: We identified 12 different acronyms for information handover. The results were grouped into four main themes - the acronym used for handover, the shape of handover, complications during handover and training in handover.

Conclusion: The shape of handover varies but all these articles support the need for structured handover which might improve the safety of provided care by reducing the information loss. A few authors even encourage having a national guideline or standard for both givers and receivers of the handover. None of the articles tested the pre-notification phase of information handover which is also important in the cases of pre-hospital cardiac arrests or patients with acute coronary syndrome. Fig. 1, Annex 1, Tab. 2, Ref. 36, on-line full text (Free, PDF) www.cardiologyletters.sk

Keywords: handover; standardisation; ambulance; pre-notification; handoff; review

Published: February 1, 2019  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Peran D, Pekara J, PCh C, Kohlova A, Marx D. Clinical handover of patients for specialized centre care from pre-hospital to in-hospital care - a narrative review. Cardiology Letters. 2019;28(2-3):99-108.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Marshall SD, Mehra R. The effects of a displayed cognitive aid on non-technical skills in a simulated 'can't intubate, can't oxygenate' crisis. Anaesthesia. 2014 Jul;69:669-77. DOI: 10.1111/ anae.12601. Go to original source...
    2. Eberl S, Koers L, Van Haperen M, et al. Cognitive aids: 'a must' for procedures performed by multidisciplinary sedation teams outside the operation room? BMJ Case Rep. 2017 Oct 4;2017. DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2017-221645. Go to original source...
    3. Marshall SD. Lost in translation? Comparing the effectiveness of electronic-based and paper-based cognitive aids. Br J Anaesth. 2017 Nov 1;119:869-871. DOI: 10.1093/bja/aex263. Go to original source...
    4. Lelaidier R, Balança B, Boet S, et al. Use of a hand-held digital cognitive aid in simulated crises: the MAX randomized controlled trial. Br J Anaesth. 2017 Nov 1;119:1015-1021. DOI: 10.1093/ bja/aex256. Go to original source...
    5. Jenkin A, Abelson-Mitchell N, Cooper S. Patient handover: time for a change? Accid Emerg Nurs. 2007 Jul;15:141-7. Epub 2007 Jul 6. DOI: 10.1016/j.aaen.2007.04.004 Go to original source...
    6. Dojmi Di Delupis F, Pisanelli P, Di Luccio G, et al. Communication during handover in the pre-hospital/hospital interface in Italy: from evaluation to implementation of multidisciplinary training through high-fidelity simulation. Intern Emerg Med. 2014 Aug;9:575-82. DOI: 10.1007/s11739-013-1040-9 Go to original source...
    7. Carter AJ, Davis KA, Evans LV, et al. Information loss in emergency medical services handover of trauma patients. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2009 Jul-Sep;13:280-5. DOI: 10.1080/10903120802706260. Go to original source...
    8. Evans SM, Murray A, Patrick I, et al. Assessing clinical hand­ over between paramedics and the trauma team. Injury. 2010 May;41:460-4. DOI: 10.1016/j.injury.2009.07.065. Go to original source...
    9. Bost N, Crilly J, Patterson E, et al. Clinical handover of patients arriving by ambulance to a hospital emergency department: a qualitative study. Int Emerg Nurs. 2012 Jul;20:133-41. DOI Go to original source...
    10. 1016/j.ienj.2011.10.002.
    11. Murray SL, Crouch R, Ainsworth-Smith M. Quality of the handover of patient care: a comparison of pre-Hospital and Emergency Department notes. Int Emerg Nurs. 2012 Jan;20:24-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.ienj.2010.09.004. Go to original source...
    12. Knutsen GO, Fredriksen K. Usage of documented pre-hospital observations in secondary care: a questionnaire study and retrospective comparison of records. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2013 Mar 1;21:13. DOI: 10.1186/1757-7241-21 Go to original source...
    13. 12. Lingard L, Espin S, Whyte S, et al. Communication failures in the operating room: an observational classification of recurrent types and effects. Qual Saf Health Care. 2004 Oct;13:330-4. DOI: 10.1136/qhc.13.5.330
    14. Pronovost PJ, Thompson DA, Holzmueller CG, et al. Toward learning from patient safety reporting systems. J Crit Care. 2006 Dec;21:305-15. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2006.07.001 Go to original source...
    15. Wood K, Crouch R, Rowland E, et al. Clinical handovers between prehospital and hospital staff: literature review. Emerg Med J. 2015 Jul;32:577-81. DOI: 10.1136/emermed-2013-203165. Go to original source...
    16. Pronovost PJ, Thompson DA, Holzmueller CG, et al. Toward learning from patient safety reporting systems. J Crit Care. 2006 Dec;21:305-15. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2006.07.001 Go to original source...
    17. Yong G, Dent AW, Weiland TJ. Handover from paramedics: observations and emergency department clinician perceptions. Emerg Med Australas. 2008 Apr;20:149-55. DOI: 10.1111/j.1742-6723.2007.01035.x Go to original source...
    18. Owen C, Hemmings L, Brown T. Lost in translation: Maximising handover effectiveness between paramedics and receiving staff in the emergency department. Emerg Med Australas 2009;21:102-7. Go to original source...
    19. Ebben RH, van Grunsven PM, Moors ML, et al. A tailored e-learning program to improve handover in the chain of emergency care: a pre-test post-test study. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2015 Apr 16;23:33. DOI: 10.1186/ s13049-015-0113-3. Go to original source...
    20. Walker D. The handover process. Australian Journal of Emergency Care, 1995;2:11-12.
    21. Scott LA, Brice JH, Baker CC, et al. An analysis of paramedic verbal reports to physicians in the emergency department trauma room. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2003 Apr-Jun;7:247-51. Go to original source...
    22. Al Mahmud A, Eichenbrenner M, Mubin O. Designing for improving verbal patient transfer. Human-Computer Interaction-INTERACT 2009, 12th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Uppsala, Sweden, August 24-28, 2009, Proceedings, PartI 2009;574-7. Go to original source...
    23. Thakore S, Morrison W. A survey of the perceived quality of patient handover by ambulance staff in the resuscitation room. Emerg Med J. 2001 Jul;18:293-6. Go to original source...
    24. Budd HR, Almond LM, Porter K. A survey of trauma alert criteria and handover practice in England and Wales. Emerg Med J. 2007 Apr;24:302-4. DOI: 10.1136/emj.2006.038323 Go to original source...
    25. Fahim Yegane SA, Shahrami A, Hatamabadi HR, et al. Clinical information transfer between EMS Staff and Emergency Medicine Assistants during handover of trauma patients. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017 Oct;32(5):541-547. DOI: 10.1017/ S1049023X17006562. Go to original source...
    26. Suserud BO, Bruce K. Ambulance nursing. Part Three. Emerg Nurse. 2003 May;11:16-21. DOI: 10.7748/en.11.2.16.s18 Go to original source...
    27. Bruce K, Suserud BO. The handover process and triage of ambulance-borne patients: the experiences of emergency nurses. Nurs Crit Care. 2005 Jul-Aug;10:201-9. Go to original source...
    28. Talbot R, Bleetman A. Retention of information by emergency department staff at ambulance handover: do standardised approaches work? Emerg Med J. 2007 Aug;24:539-42. DOI: 10.1136/emj.2006.045906 Go to original source...
    29. Meisel ZF, Shea JA, Peacock NJ, et al. Optimizing the patient handoff between emergency medical services and the emergency department. Ann Emerg Med. 2015 Mar;65:310-317.e1. DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2014.07.003. Go to original source...
    30. Evans SM, Murray A, Patrick I, et al. Clinical handover in the trauma setting: a qualitative study of paramedics and trauma team members. Qual Saf Health Care. 2010 Dec;19:e57. DOI: 10.1136/qshc.2009.039073. Go to original source...
    31. Manser T, Foster S, Gisin S, et al. Assessing the quality of patient handoffs at care transitions. Qual Saf Health Care. 2010 Dec;19:e44. DOI: 10.1136/qshc.2009.038430. Go to original source...
    32. Iedema R, Ball C, Daly B, et al. Design and trial of a new ambulance-to-emergency department handover protocol: 'IMIST-AMBO'. BMJ Qual Saf. 2012 Aug;21:627-33. DOI: 10.1136/bmjqs-2011-000766. Go to original source...
    33. Sujan MA, Chessum P, Rudd M, et al. Emergency Care Handover (ECHO study) across care boundaries: the need for joint decision making and consideration of psychosocial history. Emerg Med J. 2015 Feb;32:112-8. DOI: 10.1136/ emermed-2013-202977 Go to original source...
    34. Campbell B, Stirling C, Cummings E. Continuity matters: Examining the 'information gap' in transfer from Residential Aged Care, ambulance to emergency triage in southern Tasmania. Int Emerg Nurs. 2017 May;32:9-14. DOI: 10.1016/j.ienj.2016.05.001 Go to original source...
    35. Sujan MA, Chessum P, Rudd M, et al. Managing competing organizational priorities in clinical handover across organizational boundaries. J Health Serv Res Policy. 2015 Jan;20(1 Suppl):17-25. DOI: 10.1177/1355819614560449. Go to original source...
    36. Merten H, van Galen LS, Wagner C. Safe handover. BMJ. 2017 Oct 9;359:j4328. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.j4328. Go to original source...
    37. Sarcevic A, Burd RS. Information handover in time-critical work. Proceedings of the ACM 2009 International Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP 2009). Sanibel Island, Florida, USA. 2009;301-10. Go to original source...

    Return to the content