Effect of Bedside Handoff on Process, Patient and Provider: A Rapid Systematic Review

Objective(s): This rapid review aims at evaluating the evidence on the characteristics of bedside handoff and evaluating the correlation between patient safety and the implementation of bedside handoff as compared to traditional handoff.

Data Sources: This rapid review was conducted following the JBI methodology Medline, Scopus, and CINAHL were searched for relevant articles. Articles' screening was done by one reviewer over two phases

Study Selection: A broad selection criterion was needed to serve the purpose of this review which is to collect all the evidence about bedside handoff. Accordingly, articles discussing perceptions of nurses or patients regarding bedside handovers, as well as articles discussing the effect of implementing bedside handovers on the patients' health outcomes, were included. Articles discussing handoffs in general or specific aspects of handoffs, such as communication effectiveness, were excluded. Both qualitative and quantitative original research exploring the effects of bedside handoff were included. Review articles, case reports, letters, and other types of papers discussing the topic were excluded.

Data Extraction: A reviewer extracted relevant information from articles using JBI SUMARI for analytical cross-sectional and qualitative studies. Data was reported in tables, categorized by study type, including country, participants' characteristics, sample size, main outcome measure, and main results. Methods of data collection and analysis were also reported for all qualitative studies.

Data Synthesis: This review presents a narrative form of result assimilation, unable to perform a meta-analysis due to heterogeneity in outcomes and lack of detailed numerical data. Quantitative outcomes included patient satisfaction, falls, compliance rates, and importance ranking. Measurements were inconsistent, and similar studies were pooled narratively without statistical analysis.

Conclusions: The study found that bedside handover was preferred by patients over traditional nursing station handover, increasing safety and improving communication. Future reviews should search literature for specific study designs and outcomes. Clinical trials are needed to remove potential confounders and generate stronger evidence. Further studies should examine the effect of bedside handover on key performance indicators.

Author(s) Disclosures: The author of this study declares no conflict of interest.