Nursing handoff education: An integrative literature review

Aim: This integrative review aimed to identify nursing students' experiences of handoff practices and the effects of handoff education in the curriculum on nursing student learning outcomes. Background: Appropriate handoff communication skills are essential for nursing students to maintain patient safety and prevent adverse events. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted with keywords related to nursing, student, and handoff in April 2020. Articles should focus on nursing students' handoff education published in English in 2015-2020. Eight articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Results: Nursing students reported discrepancies in handoff experiences; diverse factors influenced their handoff experiences, such as knowledge, anxiety, confidence, and type of student supervision. Various handoff educa-tions were implemented across studies. Some handoff educations significantly improved nursing students' atti-tudes toward other disciplinary providers, satisfaction, confidence, quality, and clarity in handoff communication; some did not substantially affect their selected outcomes. Conclusion: This review identified that there are still limited handoff experiences among nursing students and many factors affecting opportunities for their handoff experience. Some handoff education (e.g., structured handoff formats, role-play, simulated scenarios) effectively improved students' communication clarity, confi-dence levels, and handoff education satisfaction. More handoff education is needed for nursing students to learn safe and quality handoff practices.