A Quality Improvement Project to Assess and Refine the Handover Process at Morning Trauma Meetings

Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

Status: Completed

Conditions: Orthopedic Disorder; Neck of Femur Fracture; Fractures, Bone

Treatments: Other: Standard Operating Protocol

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04514601

QIP Trauma Meetings Sandwell

Details and patient eligibility

About

This project was intended to observe the handover of trauma and orthopaedic patients at a district general hospital in the UK. Following the implementation of a standard operating protocol, the handover of patient information improved including neck of femur fracture patients significantly. The study can therefore be utilised by other similarly structured departments to improve the handover process, thereby improving patient safety.

Full description

Poor handover and inadequate transmission of clinical information between shifts can result in patient harm. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of implementing a handover protocol on the quality of information exchanged in the trauma handover meetings in a UK hospital.

A prospective single centre observational study was performed at an acute NHS trust, using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) methodology. Ten consecutive weekday trauma meetings, involving 43 patients, were observed to identify poor practices in handover. This data was used in conjunction with the Royal College of Surgeon's recommendations for effective handover (2007) to create a standard operating protocol (SOP). Following the implementation of the SOP, a further 8 consecutive weekday trauma meetings, involving a further 47 patients, were observed. The data collection was performed by 5 trained independent observers. The data was analysed using t test for quantitative variables and chi-square or Fisher's exact tests for categorical variables.

Enrollment: 317 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All patients that were handed over were included in the study.

Exclusion criteria

• Nil.

Trial design

317 participants in 2 patient groups

Pre-Intervention Group

Description:

The verbal and written handover of these patients was observed. This included 146 general orthopaedic admissions patients and 43 trauma patients. All patient data was anonymised.

Post-Intervention Group

Description:

The verbal and written handover of these patients was observed after the introduction of the intervention. This included 81 general orthopaedic admissions patients and 47 trauma patients. All patient data was anonymised.

Treatment:

Other: Standard Operating Protocol