The Importance Of Patient Handover

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Introduction A ward handover is a continuous and effective process to circulating essential information about a patient which is necessary to ensure the promotion of safe patient care. Ward handovers require effective communication to ensure correct clinical care delivery to all patients. This takes the form of both verbal and non-verbal communication and requires valuable leadership skills. Following a specific communication model or framework can result in a successful handover and therefore, continuity of care for each individual patient, overall ensuring high quality patient care. Ward handovers are essentially used to improve communication through the sharing of patient information between professionals, improve patient safety by certifying reliable care and improving quality and productivity, this will help reduce inaccuracies in information sharing and the quality of patient care. There is also a growing recognition within ward handovers that enhanced training to ensure effective handovers are crucial in maintaining high standards of clinical care. To ensure that an effective handover takes place all healthcare areas must have a handover policy and compliance to this policy must be ensured. Rfjhskdgnd (???) said a ward handover… MORE ON WARD HANDOVER SBAR SBAR (Leonard, et al., 2006) is a communication framework which can structure conversations within healthcare settings, particularly those which require immediate action and which may require another member from the multidisciplinary team. (Bomba and Prakash, 2005) revealed that 95% believed that there were no set procedures to assist a ward handover, this is where a communication framework such as SBAR should be brought in to ensure that handovers are produced in... ... middle of paper ... ...e process, using SBAR to prepare the ward handover could help noticeably as it can ensure that the team have based and formatted the handover information correctly. However, information which could be considered relevant should also be used, although this should not overwrite the most essential material which needs to be communicated. Implications for communication in a team Within a team communication can be hindered, this means that within a ward handover communication can be really affected. During a ward handover there is very little time to communicate what information needs to be delivered to each team member, therefore, an understanding and a consensus of this is needed. Conclusion Communication within a ward handover is imperative as this is a designated time to communicate information about patients which could be vital for nurses on the upcoming shift.

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