The functions and roles of questioning during nursing handovers in specialty settings: an ethnographic study.
BACKGROUND
Nursing handovers are an important component of patient safety and quality in communicating across transitions of care.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the functions and roles of questions in nursing handovers, and of how questions contribute to handover quality improvement in specialty settings of an Australian tertiary hospital.


METHODS
An ethnographic research design was employed.


METHODS
Participant observations were conducted which were audiorecorded and transcribed. Question-response sequences and the roles of questions in the handovers were coded.


RESULTS
Questions served many functions, and included: requests for information, requests for confirmation, other initiations of repair, outloud utterances, understanding checks, requests for action and agreement, and knowledge checks.


CONCLUSIONS
Questioning was mostly used to transmit patient-related information, and nurses could use questioning to jointly construct understandings about patients. Future research should examine how questions function in diverse clinical environments, such as rural and regional hospitals, and how questioning occurs in multidisciplinary handover situations.
a Melbourne School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences , The University of Melbourne , Alan Gilbert Building, 161 Barry Street, Carlton , VIC 3053 , Australia.
Sascha
S
Rixon
b Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences , Monash University , The Alfred Campus, Melbourne , VIC 3004 , Australia.
Sandra
S
Braaf
c School of Nursing and Midwifery , Monash University , Clayton Campus, Clayton , VIC 3168 , Australia.
Allison
A
Williams
d The Melbourne EpiCentre (Collaborative Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Health Services Research), c/- The Royal Melbourne Hospital , 7 East, Main Building, Grattan Street, Parkville , VIC 3050 , Australia.
Danny
D
Liew
a Melbourne School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences , The University of Melbourne , Alan Gilbert Building, 161 Barry Street, Carlton , VIC 3053 , Australia.|e School of Nursing and Midwifery , Deakin University , 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood , VIC 3125 , Australia.|f Department of Medicine , The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne , Royal Parade, Parkville , VIC 3052 , Australia.
Elizabeth
E
Manias
D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D003142:Communication; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards*; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062209:Patient Handoff / Q000592:standards*; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers
Australia; communication; ethnography; patient handoff; patient safety; quality improvement