MSc, Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / Handover is an internationally recognised formal procedure, which has become a
ritual in daily nursing practice. A structured handover plays an important role in
verbal as well as written interdisciplinary communication, decision making and
patient treatment, thus ensuring patient safety and maintaining the continuity of care.
The purpose of this study was to determine and describe the handover practices as
reported by registered nurses working in emergency care units in private sector
hospitals. The objectives determined the information content in current handover
practices of registered nurses, including the view or opinions of these nurses
regarding handover practices. Furthermore, this study indicated were there are
differences in handover practices between specialists versus non – specialist nurses.
A descriptive, prospective research design was used to collect data from registered
nurses working in emergency care units at private sector hospitals (n = 8). All
registered nurses (N = 142) who met the inclusion criteria, were invited to participate
in the study. Registered nurses who returned completed questionnaires constituted
the final sample (n = 117). Data on handover practices were collected by means of a
96 item (17 question / 5 page) self administered questionnaire. This data were
analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi2, Bartlett’s test for equal variances,
Spearman’s test, Pearson’s r, Fisher’s exact, student T-Test and Cronbach’s Alpha.
The level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Epi-Info and STATA version 10
statistical computer packages were used for data analysis.
Results indicated that 10.26% of registered nurses working in emergency care units
had received formal training regarding handover practices and procedures. In order to solve lack of formal handover training problem, the researcher has established an
acronym by using the word “HANDOVER”©, which may aid registered nurses with
the handover practices and procedures. Thus, offering the handover structure and
more user-friendly format. Use of a handover acronym pocket card was suggested
for future formal training purposes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/9383 |
| Date | 06 April 2011 |
| Creators | Kaufrinder, Anthony Pierre |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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