Clinical Handover

About The Program

Clinical Handover refers to the transfer of professional responsibility and accountability for some or all aspects of care for a patient, or group of patients, to another person or professional group on a temporary or permanent basis.

The purpose of this program is to identify, develop and improve clinical handover communication. Safe health care delivery for patients depends on effective communication between health care providers. Developing and implementing more consistent and reliable approaches to clinical handover is a key strategy to reduce communication errors.

The Clinical Handover program looks at the improvement of handover communication across a range of settings of care - including public and private hospitals and primary and ambulatory care settings.

Australia is also participating in the High 5s initiative of the WHO Patient Safety Alliance. Additional information is available on the World Health Organization website.

'Critical Communication': Medical Journal of Australia supplement

The Medical Journal of Australia has published a supplement issue titled Clinical Handover: Critical Communication which contains eleven articles authored by pilot studies funded by ACSQHC, along with an article contributed by the Victoria Quality Council. Accurate and consistent handover is critical to ensuring safe patient care and these articles represent a substantial contribution to the evidence-base on clinical handover both nationally and internationally. More information on the supplement can be found in our news release.

OSSIE Guide to Clinical Handover Improvement

A guide to clinical handover improvement has been developed to assist clinician-leaders and managers to implement solutions and tools for improving clinical handover practices. The first edition of the guide, a Consultation Edition, focuses on hospital clinical handover and offers an approach to change management, measurement and the use and development of standardised handover processes. The Commission welcomes feedback on the Consultation Edition. Additional details on how to provide a submission is available on our OSSIE Guide to Clinical Handover Improvement (Consultation Edition) web page.

The National Clinical Handover Initiative Pilot Projects

The National Clinical Handover Initiative pilot program has developed tools and solutions to improve handover communications in the following four categories:

1. Handover Solutions
2. Information Systems
3. Communication Training and,
4. Observation Tools.

Tender processes were used to identify work to deliver in the above categories. To view current and past tenders, please visit the Commission Tenders Web Page. Seven (7) applicants were successful in the first round of tenders in August 2007. Four (4) applicants were successful in the second round of tenders in November 2007. Three (3) applicants were successful in the third round of tenders in February 2008. These studies will be successively released over the first half of 2009.

Tools and Solutions

Bedside Handover and Whiteboard Communication - Griffith University Research Centre for Clinical Practice Innovation, Queensland Health Patient Safety Centre and Peel Health Campus, Western Australia

Transfer-to-Hospital Envelope - North East Valley Division of General Practice, Victoria

HELiCS as a Tool for Ongoing Observation, Improvement and Evaluation of Clinical Handover - University of Technology Centre for Health Communication

Nursing and Medical Handover in General Surgery, Emergency Medicine and General Medicine at the Royal Hobart Hospital - Tasmania Department of Health and Human Services, Royal Hobart Hospital and University of Tasmania

Leading Clinical Handover - University of Queensland Centre for Health Innovation and Solutions, Queensland Health Patient Safety Centre and Med-E-Serv Pty Ltd

iSoBAR for Inter-Hospital Transfers - West Australian Country Health Service and Royal Perth Hospital

Abstracts of other projects developing tools and solutions are listed on the Commission's Clinical Handover Pilot Projects web page.

Clinical Handover Literature Review

The eHealth Services Research Group at the University of Tasmania has undertaken an evidence-based clinical handover literature review (PDF 409 KB) for the Commission. This literature review examines the evidence for effectiveness of improvement interventions in clinical handover.

The review selected 110 publications for discussion and presentation within the body of the report. The report addresses the following three themes:

• High Risk Scenarios in Clinical Handover;
• Interventions, Critical Success Factors and Effectiveness; and
• Evidence Gaps in Clinical Handover.

The team has concentrated their review on literature published in the last five years. Both quantitative and qualitative research were included, as well as materials from both Australian and international publications.

Clinical Handover Events

Upcoming Events

• WCIM 2010 Melbourne in conjunction with Physicians Week


20 – 25 March 2010
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre Melbourne, Australia
World Medicine for the Next Decade: 2010 to 2020

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care will be running workshops on Clinical Handover at the WCIM. For further details please visit the WCIM 2010 website.

Recent events

• 23 November 2009 - Using Tools to Make Clinical Handover Safe: a Practical Workshop in Melbourne, VIC.


• 27 May 2009 - Using Tools to Make Clinical Handover Safe: a Practical Workshop in Perth, WA.


• 30 March 2009 - Using Tools to Make Clinical Handover Safe: a Practical Workshop in Brisbane, QLD.


• 24 November 2008 - Using Tools to Make Clinical Handover Safe: a Practical Workshop in Adelaide, SA.


• April 2008 - "Innovative Approaches to Enhancing Clinical Handover" (PDF 185 KB) presentation at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care.


• 21 January 2008 – Submissions for the RFT 197/0708 Clinical Handover for Electronic Tools and High Risk Handover Scenarios tender applications closed.


• 22 October 2007 – Submissions for the Clinical Handover in the Private Sector tender applications closed.

Contact

Dr Christine Jorm, Program Manager
(02) 9263 3774

Email: mail@safetyandquality.gov.au

Updated: 11 January, 2010

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