title: Clinical handover: An audit from Australia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Australian National Safety and Quality Health Service (NHQHS) Standards (the "Standards") provide external criteria for hospitals to assess their practices. Since the introduction of the Standards, no Australian hospital has published a report on how its handover practices compare to these Standards.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate house medical officer (HMO) shift-to-shift handover practices against the Standards at a large regional hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  All HMOs employed by Barwon Health were invited to participate in our qualitative and quantitative study by completing an online questionnaire and taking part in a focus group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 100 HMOs, 61 completed the questionnaire and 11 HMOs participated in focus groups. Questionnaire results revealed that HMOs were concerned about the quality of shift-to-shift handovers. Fifty-three per cent reported that current shift-to-shift handover practices could be putting patients at risk of adverse events. Ninety-eight per cent indicated that the handover processes could be improved. One hundred per cent of the HMOs stated that the quality of handover varies according to the doctors involved. In the focus groups, issues were raised about current handover structure, documentation, attendance, content, and training.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HMOs in the current study identified multiple deficiencies in handover practice with regard to structure, documentation, attendance, content, and training. The primary methods to improve handover include making it more structured and standardised, and to provide HMOs with handover training.
authors.affiliation: Geelong Hospital, Barwon Health.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pascoe
authors.affiliation: Geelong Hospital, Barwon Health.
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.affiliation: Geelong Hospital, Barwon Health.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: Geelong Hospital, Barwon Health.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McCall-White
keywords: Accreditation; Communication; Handover; House Medical Officer; Shift-to-shift