title: Improved record-keeping with reading handovers.
abstract: Nursing handover has traditionally been performed orally and apart from patients. Results of an audit undertaken at the Royal United Hospital, Bath, suggest that record-keeping standards there were poor. To improve these standards, a method of 'reading handover', in which the main method of communication between nurses on different shifts is written rather than oral, was introduced on one ward. This article discusses the results of this pilot study and suggests that the new handover method has improved standards of record keeping.
authors.affiliation: Royal United Hospital, Bath.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brandling
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fox
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D004282:Documentation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004739:England; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D009731:Nursing Audit; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009737:Nursing Records / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011932:Reading; D056164:Teaching Rounds / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014956:Writing