Understanding the perceptions and experiences of Certified Registered Nurse Anaesthetists regarding handovers: a focus group study.

AIM: The aim of this exploratory study was to gain further insight into the perceptions and experiences of Certified Registered Nurse Anaesthetists regarding intraoperative handovers of care.

BACKGROUND: Handovers of care often result in adverse events in hospitalized patients and this risk is increased in the operating room setting where handovers occur frequently. Handovers between nurse anaesthetists, who provide the majority of anaesthesia in the United States today, is under-researched.

DESIGN: Focus groups with Certified Registered Nurse Anaesthetists.

METHODS: Two groups of nurse anaesthetists were recruited to participate in focus groups exploring their perception and experiences with intraoperative handovers of care. Content analysis was used to construe meaning from the context of the interviews. The findings were interpreted and discussed in a framework of Relationship-Based Care.

FINDINGS: There were four main themes that emerged from the data: (1) characteristics of the setting are a threat to handover quality; (2) individual provider characteristics have an impact on handover quality; (3) The timing of the handover represents a threat to handover quality and (4) individual patient characteristics have an impact on handover quality.

CONCLUSION: The specific threats to safe handover of care between nurse anaesthetists were perceived to fall into four major themes; this provides information needed to strengthen the environment of care and to improve safety in handover of care in the operating suite.