Authors (including presenting author) :
Kong LH, Yiu MC, Shum HP, Kwan YF, Lo WPJ, Lee CH, Ng CP
Affiliation :
Department of Intensive Care, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, HA
Introduction :
Clinical handover is an essential and critical process in healthcare, ensuring continuity of care and patient safety. Traditional handover methods often lead to incomplete information transfer and increased potential for errors. Previous studies have been shown that structured iPASS models can improve patient safety and reduce miscommunication (Mokhtari et. al., 2023). Therefore, this study aims to promote effective nursing handover using the iPASS model.
Objectives :
To improve nursing handover process by using iPASS.
Methodology :
A pretest- posttest design was employed, comparing the effectiveness of handovers before and after the iPASS model implementation. ICU nurses underwent related training on September 2024. Documents were randomly selected from 60 critically-ill patients admitted to PYNEH ICU, with 30 cases from 1st August to 31st August, 2024 as the pretest and 30 cases from 1st October to 31st October, 2024 as the posttest. The quality of the documentation was assessed based on the five elements of iPASS model: Illness Severity, Patient Summary, Action List, Situation Awareness and Contingency planning, and Synthesis by Receiver. Each case was reviewed over at least three continuous shifts from patient’s Clinical-Information-System record.
Result & Outcome :
We reviewed a total of 164 documents with 81 documents reviewed in the pre-iPASS stage and 83 in the post-iPASS stage. Comparing the results, documentation of Illness Severity improved from 25.9% to 98.8%, Patient Summary from 45.7% to 98.8%, Action List from 21% to 97.6%, Situation Awareness and Contingency planning from 8.6% to 97.6%, and Synthesis by Receiver improved from 2.5% to 80.7%.
