The Ins and Outs of Change of Shift Handoffs between Nurses: A Communication Challenge
Background: Communication breakdowns have been identified as a source of problems in complex work settings such as hospital-based healthcare. Methods: The authors conducted a multi-method study of change of shift handoffs between nurses, including interviews, survey, audio taping and direct obser...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/77617 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-1908 |
| _version_ | 1811095360158826496 |
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| author | Carroll, John Stephen Williams, Michele Gallivan, Theresa M. |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Carroll, John Stephen Williams, Michele Gallivan, Theresa M. |
| author_sort | Carroll, John Stephen |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Background: Communication breakdowns have been identified as a source of problems in complex work settings such as hospital-based healthcare.
Methods: The authors conducted a multi-method study of change of shift handoffs between nurses, including interviews, survey, audio taping and direct observation of handoffs, posthandoff questionnaires, and archival coding of clinical records.
Results: The authors found considerable variability across units, nurses and, surprisingly, roles. Incoming and outgoing nurses had different expectations for a good handoff: incoming nurses wanted a conversation with questions and eye contact, whereas outgoing nurses wanted to tell their story without interruptions. More experienced nurses abbreviated their reports when incoming nurses knew the patient, but the incoming nurses responded with a large number of questions, creating a contest for control. Nurses' ratings did not correspond to expert ratings of information adequacy, suggesting that nurses consider other functions of handoffs beyond information processing, such as social interaction and learning.
Discussion: These results suggest that variability across roles as information provider versus receiver and experience level (as well as across individual and organisational contexts) are reasons why improvement efforts directed at standardising and improving handoffs have been challenging in nursing and in other healthcare professions as well. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:15:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/77617 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:15:51Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/776172022-09-29T19:13:13Z The Ins and Outs of Change of Shift Handoffs between Nurses: A Communication Challenge Carroll, John Stephen Williams, Michele Gallivan, Theresa M. Sloan School of Management Carroll, John Carroll, John Stephen Background: Communication breakdowns have been identified as a source of problems in complex work settings such as hospital-based healthcare. Methods: The authors conducted a multi-method study of change of shift handoffs between nurses, including interviews, survey, audio taping and direct observation of handoffs, posthandoff questionnaires, and archival coding of clinical records. Results: The authors found considerable variability across units, nurses and, surprisingly, roles. Incoming and outgoing nurses had different expectations for a good handoff: incoming nurses wanted a conversation with questions and eye contact, whereas outgoing nurses wanted to tell their story without interruptions. More experienced nurses abbreviated their reports when incoming nurses knew the patient, but the incoming nurses responded with a large number of questions, creating a contest for control. Nurses' ratings did not correspond to expert ratings of information adequacy, suggesting that nurses consider other functions of handoffs beyond information processing, such as social interaction and learning. Discussion: These results suggest that variability across roles as information provider versus receiver and experience level (as well as across individual and organisational contexts) are reasons why improvement efforts directed at standardising and improving handoffs have been challenging in nursing and in other healthcare professions as well. CRICO/RMF Strategies (Grant) 2013-03-12T14:00:57Z 2013-03-12T14:00:57Z 2012-02 2012-01 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2044-5415 2044-5423 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/77617 Carroll, J. S., M. Williams, and T. M. Gallivan. “The Ins and Outs of Change of Shift Handoffs Between Nurses: a Communication Challenge.” BMJ Quality & Safety 21.7 (2012): 586–593. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-1908 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2011-000614 BMJ Quality & Safety Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf BMJ Publishing Group Prof. Carroll via Alex Caracuzzo |
| spellingShingle | Carroll, John Stephen Williams, Michele Gallivan, Theresa M. The Ins and Outs of Change of Shift Handoffs between Nurses: A Communication Challenge |
| title | The Ins and Outs of Change of Shift Handoffs between Nurses: A Communication Challenge |
| title_full | The Ins and Outs of Change of Shift Handoffs between Nurses: A Communication Challenge |
| title_fullStr | The Ins and Outs of Change of Shift Handoffs between Nurses: A Communication Challenge |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Ins and Outs of Change of Shift Handoffs between Nurses: A Communication Challenge |
| title_short | The Ins and Outs of Change of Shift Handoffs between Nurses: A Communication Challenge |
| title_sort | ins and outs of change of shift handoffs between nurses a communication challenge |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/77617 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-1908 |
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