Importance and Role of Nursing Handover in Nursing

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT 1
Nursing Assignment
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 2
Introduction
Nursing handover can be described as inter-clinical communication happening in a
healthcare setting (Coughlan at al., 2018). It happens when a clinical practitioner relinquishes the
responsibility of patient care to another clinical practitioner, and an instance is that of the end of
a clinical shift (Fealy et al., 2019). Ordinarily, nursing handovers happen a day thrice for every
patient. When the responsibility for patient care is transferred, clinical handover aims to acquire
an effective communication of excellent nursing information at any time. The focus of the
discussion is to explain the importance along with the role of nursing handoff in nursing.
Discuss the importance and role of nursing handover in nursing
Nursing handover promotes person-centered care (Kullberg, Sharp, Dahl, Brandberg &
Bergenmar, 2018). Person-centered care is a way of acknowledging a patient as an equal partner
in care. The patient handoff at the bedside is a formal exercise of health professionals to delegate
obligation for the patient’s care and treatment by conveying the necessary information to the
clinical professionals who would provide attention to the patient at the following shift (Khuan &
Juni, 2017). A significant root cause of a breakdown in communication at the time of bedside
handoffs is as a result of patient’s disengagement that could compromise the welfare of the
patient. Hence, the World Health Organization visualizations enhanced handoff efficiency via
clinical practitioners' utilization of collective and practical electronic technologies along with
approaches and by enabling patient’s adequate time for queries.
As part of an electronic health records system, health professionals conduct bedside
handovers via utilization of Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation (SBAR)
procedure which entails patients at the time of handoff procedure and supports the notion of
patient-centered care (Khuan & Juni, 2017). Through nursing handoffs, person-centered care has

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 3
been fostered as an efficient technique of delivering care which is courteous and sensible to
individual patient necessities, priorities along with values and making sure that patient values
guide all health decisions.
Clinical practitioners offer patient-centered care via giving information and awareness,
which is adjusted to the patient's needs and conferring with patients to assist them in making
decisions regarding their attention (Khuan & Juni, 2017). About health outcomes, patient
engagement prevents prolixity and disparities in care procedures and promotes the progression of
care. The communication and participation of the patient, the ongoing together with the outgoing
clinical profession make sure that appropriate and contemporary information regarding the status
of patient’s wellbeing is dispatched promptly. Moreover, patients are well enlightened on their
welfare, and clinical professionals have a better comprehension of the client as an individual, that
enhances the quality of health care provision (Khuan & Juni, 2017).
Nursing handover promotes a culture of teamwork and support in the healthcare setting.
Concerning shifting changes, a culture of competence can attenuate mistakes and procedural
breaches which occur mainly from abnormal psychological activities like inattention,
carelessness, obliviousness, negligence or lack of inspiration (Lee, Phan, Dorman, Weaver &
Pronovost, 2016). Competency in healthcare focuses on value-based attitudinal along with
intellectual features which are utilized to provide patient-centered care. Always, practitioners use
handovers as a drive for education, sociability, and psychosocial assistance to enhance
unification along with staff solidarity (Lee et al., 2016).
A teamwork culture enhances the handover of responsibility amid the outgoing and the
incoming professionals by probing support or expressing issues and illuminating issues via two-
way dialogues (Lee et al., 2016). This approach generates a shared mental model of the nursing