Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Document Type

Major Paper

School

School of Nursing

Department

Nursing

Date of Original Version

2016

Abstract

Nursing handoff is the important exchange of pertinent information between nurses that is critical to patient safety. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to explore progressive care nurses' perceptions of usefulness of a new electronic SBAR handoff tool on an inpatient adult acute care setting at an academic medical center. A 10 question survey including eight Likert response and two open-ended response questions was created from content areas of a survey designed to measure nurses' perceptions of usefulness of a computerized tool for shift handover report writing. The anonymous survey was completed by 16 of 24 eligible participants. Descriptive statistics were performed on the study variables and responses from open-ended questions were analyzed for themes. Survey results revealed that nurses perceive the new handoff summary tool to save time and improve consistency of information exchanged. Nurses stated that communication between departments was not improved and that the summary screen does not accurately represent the patient at the time of report. Open-ended question responses revealed that user error may be contributing to some of the dissatisfaction with the tool. Responses indicated that many nurses still prefer a narrative type of handoff and read physician and nursing assessments for this type of description. Further exploration is needed. Implications for practice include the APRN's important contribution to a successful implementation of electronic handoff. The APRN is essential to the success of such changes as they are uniquely prepared to plan, implement, and evaluate this change across the three spheres of influence.

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