33 As pre-hospital care teams now provide a wide range of interventions, it is more important than ever that information is handed over effectively to the Emergency Department team. With critically ill or unstable patients, this transfer of information and care must be performed rapidly. However, it must be completed in a manner that ensures that all team members understand the patient’s pre-hospital journey. Considerable communication skills are required, as well as knowledge of human factors, to ensure that the handover process is as effective as possible. With verbal communication accounting for just 20% of the transfer of information, it must be precise, clear, accurate and incorporate effective non-verbal techniques. Handover is a skill that should be approached in just the same way as a clinical procedure. As such, the pre-hospital team must undertake significant preparation before commencing handover in hospital.
Handover
Preparing for handover and the pre-alert
Full access? Get Clinical Tree
