Am i getting an accurate picture: A tool to assess clinical handover in remote settings?

Malcolm Moore*, Chris Roberts, Jonathan Newbury, Jim Crossley

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    14 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Background: Good clinical handover is critical to safe medical care. Little research has investigated handover in rural settings. In a remote setting where nurses and medical students give telephone handover to an aeromedical retrieval service, we developed a tool by which the receiving clinician might assess the handover; and investigated factors impacting on the reliability and validity of that assessment. Methods: Researchers consulted with clinicians to develop an assessment tool, based on the ISBAR handover framework, combining validity evidence and the existing literature. The tool was applied 'live' by receiving clinicians and from recorded handovers by academic assessors. The tool's performance was analysed using generalisability theory. Receiving clinicians and assessors provided feedback. Results: Reliability for assessing a call was good (G = 0.73 with 4 assessments). The scale had a single factor structure with good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.8). The group mean for the global score for nurses and students was 2.30 (SD 0.85) out of a maximum 3.0, with no difference between these sub-groups. Conclusions: We have developed and evaluated a tool to assess high-stakes handover in a remote setting. It showed good reliability and was easy for working clinicians to use. Further investigation and use is warranted beyond this setting.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number213
    JournalBMC Medical Education
    Volume17
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 15 Nov 2017

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