EP.TU.45Organising The Huddle: An Audit Loop of the Surgical Handover

Abstract Aim Structured patient handover is a critical element for the patient safety. There are several guidelines including the ones from NICE and Royal College of surgeons emphasizing its importance in today’s practice. It entails appropriate coordination and communication among health-care providers to ensure safety of the patients and avoid adverse incidences. This audit was performed to assess and improve the current Surgical Handover Meeting in line with the Handover Guidelines from the Royal College of Surgeons of England (Rcseng.ac.uk, 2007). Method A questionnaire was circulated among the surgical doctors involved in the handover meetings. Outcomes were compared with the NICE and RCS guidelines. Recommended changes were implemented after training the staff which was followed by second cycle of audit. Results During the first cycle of audit, 80% of the junior surgical doctors contributed towards the study who agreed there was no standard format of handover, information was incomplete and there was lack of privacy. A standardized handover sheet was introduced which included accurate and concise information about patients with their management plans. There was noticeable improvement in staff satisfaction in second cycle but use of quiet room and nurse’s attendance remained poor. Conclusion Safe handover reflects quality of patient care. Despite achieving remarkable improvement after first audit we still lag behind the recommended practice. With all the support and coordination; further projects, meetings and presentations are required to achieve the outstanding standards.