title: Handover education improves skill and confidence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the frequency of patient-care handovers and vulnerability to errors, medical schools infrequently teach handover skills. Our study evaluated the impact of a medical school handover curriculum on students' performance, as rated by faculty members, peers and self-assessment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen fourth-year medical students participated in a handover curriculum that included a workshop and three directly observed patient handovers, with feedback from faculty members. Multivariate repeated-measures analysis evaluated faculty member, peer, and self-rated performance over time. Students' self-assessed confidence in performing handovers prior to, at the end of, and 8-12 months after the curriculum was also analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Faculty member, peer and self-assessments showed that students' performance significantly improved after the curriculum, on handover content, clinical judgment and overall performance (p < 0.05). Students rated the curriculum as effective and characterised themselves as more prepared to perform handovers, with these findings persisting for 8-12 months (p ≤ 0.001). Medical schools infrequently teach handover skills DISCUSSION: A handover curriculum appears to improve medical students' handover performance, as evaluated by independent ratings from faculty members, peers and the students themselves, in addition to improving the students' confidence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.|Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stojan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mullan
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lypson
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Christner
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haftel
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Jocelyn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schiller
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D003479:Curriculum; D004493:Education; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D062209:Patient Handoff / Q000592:standards; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology