P-OBS-PS-MD-043 The Effect of an Educational Session and Structured Communication Tool on the Quality of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Resident Handover

Clinical handover is critical to ensuring patient safety, and the acuity and complexity of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Ob/Gyn) service make this process challenging. The study objective was to determine the effect of education and a structured communication tool on the observed quality of Ob/Gyn resident handover. A pre-post intervention study was conducted. The intervention was an educational session paired with a structured mnemonic tool. A total of 130 Ob/Gyn resident handovers were directly observed and video-recorded (102 analyzed). The primary outcome was sender handover evaluated by content/quality scores. The secondary outcomes were receiver active listening scores, service area inclusion/omission, interruptions and distractions, and handover duration. 2-tailed Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis. The mean sender content score increased from 52.8% pre-intervention to 67.2% post-intervention (P < 0.001). The mean number of service omissions per handover decreased from 1.86 to 0.62 (P < 0.001) and the percentage of handovers with zero service omissions increased from 4.76% to 66.7% (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in receiver resident active listening scores, and readback/summary was only observed in 4.9% of handovers. There were no significant differences in interruptions or distractions and there were on average 11.2 interruptions per handover. There was no difference in handover duration. The introduction of an educational session and structured communication tool for Ob/Gyn handover resulted in improved sender handover and reduced service omission. Interruptions and distractions were common. This study has highlighted areas for further targeted improvements in handover education, standardization, and environment.