Clinical practice guidelines for person-centred handover practices in emergency departments: a scoping review

Objective: To review the available information on clinical practice guidelines for person-centred and current handover practices between emergency care practitioners (ECPs) and healthcare professionals in emergency departments (EDs). Collating existing clinical practice guidelines may improve handover practices.

Eligibility criteria: Clinical practice guidelines for person-centred handover practices between ECPs and healthcare professionals in EDs. ECPs transporting and handing patients over to healthcare professionals in EDs. Healthcare professionals including doctors and nurses working in EDs, who are involved in handovers with ECPs. Studies conducted in EDs, emergency rooms or emergency centres in any geographical area. No language or time restrictions were applied. The search included published and unpublished studies, opinion papers as well as primary sources, and evidence synthesis. All qualitative and quantitative research designs were included.

Sources of evidence: The literature on clinical practice guidelines for person-centred handover practices was reviewed. Three electronic databases were searched: MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL (EBSCO) and Scopus from inception to May 2023 with no time limits set for the inclusion of published literature in the review. Six guideline organisations were also searched.

Charting methods: A data extraction tool was developed, pilot-tested and used to extract data from the included studies.

Results: 19 studies met the inclusion criteria. Various mnemonics exist for handover practices. Where mnemonics are not used, participants have identified important information that should be included during handover practices. We did not find any clinical practice guidelines or information on person-centred handover practices in any of the reviewed articles.

Conclusions: Currently, there is no gold standard for person-centred handover practices, which has led to various practices being implemented. Currently, there is a paucity of literature on person-centred handover practices. Most articles expressed a need for standardised handover practices; however, not all aspects of handover practices can be standardised and should be kept patient and context-specific.

Trial and protocol registration: This scoping review protocol was registered on Figshare (10.6084/m9 /m9.figshare.21731528).