Clinical Handover In Health Care

Words: 1591
Pages: 7

Clinical handover is an important task that nurses, doctors and other health professionals alike partake in multiple times a day. Clinical handover, particularly in the perioperative setting, is the transfer of vital information prior to reallocating the responsibility and accountability of patient care between one health professional to another (Steel 2016; Pascoe, Gill, Hughes & McCall-White 2014). The aim of this paper is to critique a current piece of literature related to the topic of clinical handover in the perioperative setting and link it to one the ten standards set in National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC). The article by Braff, …show more content…
This whilst not an apparent important point of note, this does add credibility and believability to the study at face value (Coughlan, Cronin & Ryan 2007a, p659) as the authors appear to be experts in their chosen field. Additionally, the title of this article is clear and concise and is of acceptable length. Coughlan et al. (2007a, p. 659) explains that the title of an article should be about 10 to 15 words in length and clearly state the purpose of the study. Otherwise, titles that are too long or too short can be ambiguous and confusing. The abstract for this article provides a succinct overview of the research and clearly outlines the aim of the study; method; sample size and selection; main findings; conclusions; recommendations and its relevance to clinical practice. All these factors enable the reader to ascertain whether this study is of interest (Coughlan et al. 2007a, p.660) and worth …show more content…
It is clear from the critique of this article that ensuring the transfer of vital patient information is of utmost importance, especially in the perioperative setting. It is clear after examining this article that more attention needs to be made on what information is transferred via documentation and that done verbally. It would safe to say that both forms of communication need to be used in conjunction with each other, without a heavy reliance on either one. Further research needs to be conducted to develop a tool that is specific to the perioperative department as a means of prompting health care professionals during the handover