Developing a guideline for structured content and process in mental health nursing handover

The process of handover has received recent attention within Australian health care, as evidence linking patient safety with the quality of handover emerges. Such links between clinical handover and patient safety have been reported elsewhere in the literature, where it is posited that the safe care of patients relies not only on the expertise and judgment of individual clinicians, teamwork, and effective management, but hinges to a large extent on the quality of information transferred from team to team. The present qualitative, descriptive study used participant observations, focus groups, and interviews to investigate the nursing handover in two acute mental health inpatient units in New South Wales, Australia. Data collected as part of that investigation contributed to the development of a handover guideline that incorporates the key components of structure, content, and leadership. The research indicated a link between these components, and further revealed the necessity to have other forums, such as supervision and clinical review, to ensure that handover serves its intended purpose in an efficient manner.