Effect of a new handover system for 119 transfer patients in a single emergency medical center

Objective:
This study evaluated the efficacy and effectiveness of a new patient handover system developed for better handover in a metropolitan emergency department (ED).
Method:
A retrospective observational study was designed to evaluate the appropriateness and satisfaction level of the new ED handover system. The participants were pre-hospital emergency medical service (EMS) providers with patient transport experience before and after the pilot of the new handover system.
Results:
A questionnaire was completed by 37 pre-hospital EMS providers who transported patients to the emergency department. Based on the results, pre-hospital EMS providers felt an increased level of kindness from the ED healthcare professionals during patient handover (P<0.001), from 3.19±1.05 points before the introduction of the system to 3.97±0.96 points after its introduction, and the activeness of ED healthcare professionals also increased, from 3.35±1.03 to 4.14±0.86 points (P<0.001). The sufficiency of contents of patient handover information to explain a patient’s condition increased from 3.59±0.76 to 4.08±0.72 points (P<0.003). The score for overall satisfaction felt by the EMS providers during patient handover increased from 3.46±0.96 to 3.76±0.86 points, which was not statistically significant (P=0.020).
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest that the introduction of a new patient handover system between EMS providers and the ED staff is effective for both pre-hospital EMS providers and ED staff.

Key words: Emergency medical services; Patient handoff; Patient handover; Effectiveness