Critcomms: a national cross-sectionalquestionnaire based study to investigateprehospital handover practices betweenambulance clinicians and specialistprehospital teams in Scotland
2018
Background: Poor communication during patient handover is recognised internationally as a root cause of a
significant proportion of preventable deaths. Improving the accuracy and quality of handover may reduce
associated mortality and morbidity. Although the practice of handover between Ambulance and Emergency
Department clinicians has received some attention over recent years there is little evidence to support handover
best practice within the prehospital domain. Further research is therefore urgently required to understand the most
appropriate way to deliver clinical information exchange in the pre-hospital environment. We aimed to investigate
current clinical information exchange practices, perceived challenges and the preferred handover mnemonic for
use during transfer of high acuity patients between ambulance clinicians and specialist prehospital teams. Methods: A national, cross-sectional questionnaire study. Participants were road based ambulance clinicians (RBAC)
or active members of specialist prehospital teams (SPHT) based in Scotland. Results: Over a three month study period there were 247 prehospital incidents involving specialist teams. One
hundred ninety individuals completed the questionnaire; 61% [n = 116] RBAC and 39% [n = 74] SPHT. Median
length of prehospital experience was 10 years (IQR 5–18). Overall current prehospital handover practices were
perceived as being effective (Mdn 4.00; IQR 3–4 [1 = very ineffective - 5 = very effective]) although SPHT clinicians
rated handover effectiveness slightly lower than RBAC’s (Mdn 3.00 vs 4.00, U = 1842.5, p = .03). ‘ATMIST’ (Age, Time
of onset, Medical complaint/injury, Investigation, Signs and Treatment) was deemed the mnemonic of choice. The
clinical variables perceived as essential for handover are not explicitly identified within the SBAR mnemonic. The
most frequently reported method of recording and transferring information during handover was via memory (n = 112
and n = 120 respectively) and ‘interruptions’ were perceived as the most significant barrier to effective handover. Conclusion: While, overall, current prehospital handover practice is perceived as effective this study has identified a
number of areas for improvement. These include the development of a shared mental model through system
standardisation, innovations to support information recording and delivery, and the clear identification at incidents of a
handover lead. Mnemonics must be carefully selected to ensure they explicitly contain the perceived essential clinical
variables required for prehospital handover; the mnemonic ATMIST meets these requirements. New theoretically
informed, evidence-based interventions, must be developed and tested within existing systems of care to minimise
information loss and risk to patients.
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