The handover period has been identified as a particularly vulnerable period for communication breakdown leading to patient safety events. Clear and concise handover is especially critical in high-acuity care settings such as trauma, emergency general surgery, and surgical critical care. There is no consensus for the most effective and efficient means of evaluating or performing handover in this population. We aimed to characterize the current handover practices and perceptions in trauma and acute care surgery.
A survey was sent to 2265 members of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma via email regarding handoff practices at their institution. Respondents were queried regarding their practice setting, average census, level of trauma center, and patients (trauma, emergency general surgery, and/or intensive care). Data regarding handover practices were gathered including frequency of handover, attendees, duration, timing, and formality. Finally, perceptions of handover including provider satisfaction, desire for improvement, and effectiveness were collected.
Three hundred eighty surveys (17.1%) were completed. The majority (73.4%) of respondents practiced at level 1 trauma centers (58.9%) and were trauma/emergency general surgeons (86.5%). Thirty-five percent of respondents reported a formalized handover and 52% used a standardized tool for handover. Only 18% of respondents had ever received formal training, but most (51.6%) thought this training would be helpful. Eighty-one percent of all providers felt handover was essential for patient care, and 77% felt it prevented harm. Seventy-two percent thought their handover practice needed improvement, and this was more common as the average patient census increased. The most common suggestions for improvement were shorter and more concise handover (41.6%), different handover medium (24.5%), and adding verbal communication (13.9%).
Trauma and emergency general surgeons perceive handover as essential for patient care and the majority desire improvement of their current handover practices. Methods identified to improve the handover process include standardization, simplification, and verbal interaction, which allows for shared understanding. Formal education and best practice guidelines should be developed.

Introduction Miscommunication during patient handoff contributes to an estimated 80% of serious medical errors and, consequently, plays a key role in the estimated five million excess deaths annually from poor quality of care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Objective The objective of this study was to assess signout communication during patient handoffs between prehospital personnel and hospital staff. Methods This is a cross-sectional study, with a convenience sample of 931 interfacility transfers for pregnant women across four states from November 7 to December 13, 2016. A complete signout, as defined for this study, contains all necessary signout elements for patient care exchanged verbally or in written form between an emergency medical technician (EMT) and a physician or nurse. Results Enrollment of 786 cases from 931 interfacility transfers resulted in 1572 opportunities for signout. EMTs and a physician or nurse signed out in 1549 cases (98.5%). Signout contained all elements in 135 cases (8.6%). The mean percentage of signout elements included was 45.2% (95% CI, 43.9-46.6). Physician involvement was correlated with a higher mean percent (63.4% [95% CI, 62-64.8]) compared to nurse involvement (23.6% [95% CI, 22.5-24.8]). With respect to the frequency of signout communication, 63.1% of EMTs reported often or always giving signout, and 60.5% reported often or always giving signout; they reported feeling moderately to very comfortable with signout (73.7%) and 34.1% requested further training. Conclusions Physicians, nurses, and the EMTs conducted signout 99% of the time but often fell short of including all elements required for optimal patient care. Interventions aimed at improving the quality of patient care must include strengthening signout communication.

Continuity is critical for safe patient care and its absence is associated with adverse outcomes. Continuity requires handoffs between physicians, but most published studies of educational interventions to improve handoffs have focused primarily on residents, despite interns expected to being proficient. The AAMC core entrustable activities for graduating medical students includes handoffs as a milestone, but no controlled studies with students have assessed the impact of training in handoff skills. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an educational intervention to improve third-year medical student handoff skills, the durability of learned skills into the fourth year, and the transfer of skills from the simulated setting to the clinical environment. Trained evaluators used standardized patient cases and an observation tool to assess verbal handoff skills immediately post intervention and during the student\'s fourth-year acting internship. Students were also observed doing real time sign-outs during their acting internship. Evaluators assessed untrained control students using a standardized case and performing a real-time sign-out. Intervention students mean score demonstrated improvement in handoff skills immediately after the workshop (2.6-3.8; p < 0.0001) that persisted into their fourth year acting internship when compared to baseline performance (3.9-3.5; p = 0.06) and to untrained control students (3.5 vs. 2.5; p < 0.001, d = 1.2). Intervention students evaluated in the clinical setting also scored higher than control students when assessed doing real-time handoffs (3.8 vs. 3.3; p = 0.032, d = 0.71). These findings should be useful to others considering introducing handoff teaching in the undergraduate medical curriculum in preparation for post-graduate medical training. Trial Registration Number NCT02217241.