Patient Handoff Among General Surgery Residents in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Background Communication failure is a common cause of adverse events. An essential element of communication among healthcare providers is patient handoffs. To explore this practice, we assessed patient handoffs among general surgery residents in Saudi Arabia. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted with individuals in accredited general surgery residency programs in Saudi Arabia between 2020 to 2021. Results Participants comprised 118 general surgery residents—66 (57.3%) were females; 67 (72.8%) did not receive any formal training on patient handoff; 35 (38.8%) reported that they were sometimes interrupted during the patient handoff process. The most common reason for such interruptions was medical personnel paging. Further, 60 (68.1%) general surgery residents stated that such interruptions led to a decreased quality of effective communication, 39 (44.3%) believed it led to decreased quality of patient care, 63(71.5%) believed it led to the loss of some information related to patient handoff, and 16 (18.1%) believed it led to patient harm. Finally, 31 (34.4%) general surgery residents believed that the existing handoff system at their institutions neither adequately protected the patient’s safety nor allowed for continuity of care; and 51 (68%) reported that they did not have a standardized protocol for patients’ verbal handoff process at their institution. There were higher proportion of patients with minor harm in residents who did not, rare or some time received verbal or written hand off (67% vs 33%). Conclusion The patient handoff process among general surgery residents in Saudi Arabia is subjective, not standardized, and can contribute to patient harm. Standardizing it is paramount to improve patient safety.