Communicating Data, Information, and Knowledge in the Nursing Handoff

Abstract

Miscommunication occurring during the nursing handoff continues to be a primary cause of sentinel events and adverse patient outcomes. The primary purpose of the nursing handoff is to communicate essential patient data, information, and knowledge to ensure the safe continued continuity of care. The aim of this study was to examine the content of the nurse-to-nurse change-of-shift handoff communication in terms of data, information, and knowledge for both bedside and nonbedside handoffs of a patient who has experienced a clinical event. The setting was an urban medical center on a medical-surgical floor.The sample consisted of one nurse giving and one nurse receiving the handoff (n = 19 registered nurses). Five bedside and five nonbedside handoffs were audio recorded and analyzed using content analysis. The handoff overall contained 34.7% data, 51.7% information, and 13.6% knowledge. The nonbedside handoff compared with the bedside handoff contained a substantially higher percentage of data and less information. The percentage of knowledge being communicated in both the nonbedside and bedside handoff was low at 13.6% and 13.7%, respectively. The percentage of data compared with the percentage of knowledge in the handoff places the nurses at greater risk of experiencing cognitive lapses due to cognitive overload.

Linguistic dissection of nursing handoffs: Implications for patient safety in varied‐acuity hospital settings

“…Our study was organized following the framework of the Nurse‐to‐Nurse Transition of Care Communication Model (Galatzan & Carrington, 2022). This framework provides a mechanism and structure to examine the nurse‐to‐nurse handoff communication at any point when a patient transitions care from one provider to another.…”

“…This framework provides a mechanism and structure to examine the nurse‐to‐nurse handoff communication at any point when a patient transitions care from one provider to another. Within this model, the analysis of handoff communication encompasses an exploration of structural elements, underlying assumptions and interpersonal dynamics crucial for the efficient exchange of patient information (Galatzan et al., 2019; Galatzan & Carrington, 2022). Furthermore, it delves into the realm of human cognition, the intricacies of processing information from diverse sources and the examination of cognitive overload, its development and its consequences (Galatzan et al., 2019; Galatzan & Carrington, 2022).…”

“…The magnitude of this problem is further highlighted by the fact that 75% of hospital‐associated infections and complications, such as falls, retention of foreign objects and even patient suicide, along with 86% of delays in treatment, can be traced back to miscommunications (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2017; Joint Commission, 2023). Despite targeted efforts by organizations like the Joint Commission to make communication a focal point of annual safety goals and a wealth of nursing research dedicated to improving communication, the challenge persists (Galatzan & Carrington, 2018, 2022; Joint Commission, 2023).…”

The patient safety in extracorporeal blood purification treatments of critical patients

“…The most critical point for communication is the handover ( 22 , 23 ) that has to be structured to improve the safety by building a care setting in which information is encoded so that “the sender” and “the receiver” can understand whether the process has been correctly performed ( 21 , 24 ). It is therefore useful to implement “the closed loop communication” ( 25 ) to make all the caregivers able to verify the exact and complete communication of the patient’s clinical condition by a clear and shared language in terms of parameters and nomenclature understandable by all the caregivers involved in the patient care.…”

Creating a culture of support for nursing surveillance

“…62 Townsend-Gervis et al 63 reported that hospital readmission dropped from 14.5% to 2.1% in a unit that employed IDR. After implementing daily bedside IDR, Clay-Williams et al 64 reported improved teamwork, communication, and understanding within and between clinical professions and between clinicians and patients. They did not find statistically significant differences in length of stay but did observe a drop in cost of stay.…”