title: A standardized shift handover protocol: improving nurses' safe practice in intensive care units.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  For maintaining the continuity of care and improving the quality of care, effective inter-shift information communication is necessary. Any handover error can endanger patient safety. Despite the importance of shift handover, there is no standard handover protocol in our healthcare settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study conducted in spring and summer of 2011, we recruited a convenience sample of 56 ICU nurses. The Nurses' Safe Practice Evaluation Checklist was used for data collection. The Content Validity Index and the inter-rater correlation coefficient of the checklist was 0.92 and 89, respectively. We employed the SPSS 11.5 software and the Mc Nemar and paired-samples t test for data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Study findings revealed that nurses' mean score on the Safe Practice Evaluation Checklist increased significantly from 11.6 (2.7) to 17.0 (1.8) (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  using a standard handover protocol for communicating patient's needs and information improves nurses' safe practice in the area of basic nursing care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Javad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malekzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Reza
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Mazluom
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Toktam
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Etezadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Javad-Al- Aemeh Hospital, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tasseri
keywords: Intensive care unit; Nursing care; Shift handover; patient safety