Nurses' handoff and patient safety culture in perinatal care units

Aim and objectives To examine nursing handoff, identify causes of handoff errors, evaluate current methods of handoff and determine the factors associated with handoff evaluation in delivery rooms and neonatal units of hospitals in South Korea. Background Handoff is a critical communication process in clinical settings. Less attention has been paid to the handoff practice to assure safe perinatal care in hospitals. Design This is a cross‐sectional descriptive study. Methods A total of 291 nurses participated in the study. They completed a set of self‐reporting questionnaires containing five instruments that evaluated demographic data and current handoff strategies, experience of handoff error, causes of handoff error, perception of patient safety culture and handoff evaluation. The responses were analysed using descriptive statistics and stepwise regression modelling. Results Perception of patient safety culture was positively related to handoff evaluation, while experience and causes of handoff error were negatively related to handoff evaluation. A regression analysis showed that degree of cooperation among departments and units, reasonable communication and processes, and frequency of reported medical errors were positively related to handoff evaluation and the lack of documented guidelines or checklists was negatively associated with handoff evaluation. Conclusions This study suggests that hospitals should develop a standardised handoff checklist according to documented guidelines, promote cooperation among hospital units and departments, enhance communication and clarify work processes to achieve safer care to create an affirmative culture that encourages reporting of errors to keep patients safe. Relevance to clinical practice This study highlights the importance of standardising handoff process and systems, promoting communication and cooperating with each other to foster patient safety culture in perinatal care units.