Structured Handover in the Pediatric Postanesthesia Care Unit

Purpose: To establish a structured handover in the pediatric postanesthesia care unit.

Design: An observational prequality and postquality improvement design was used.

Methods: Convenience samples of 52 preimplementation and 51 postimplementation handover interactions (N = 103) were observed and compared to a 42-item Introductions, Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendations, & Questions checklist. Patient care team members' satisfaction was assessed using voluntary electronic surveys. Data were analyzed for descriptive measures and differences in the pre- and postchecklist, and satisfaction total scores were compared using a two-sample t test.

Finding: The implementation of the handover checklist resulted in a statistically significant increase in the percentage of items discussed during five of six handover phases (P < .001). Overall, a significant increase in provider satisfaction was demonstrated from preimplementation to postimplementation (P < .01). The average duration of handover (in minutes) was not significantly different from pre (mean = 5.80 ± 3.80) to post (mean = 6.80 ± 2.30), P = .15.

Conclusions: A structured handover checklist is associated with increased communication of handover content information and improved provider satisfaction. No statistically significant effect on handover duration time was found.