Assessment of Patient Handover Process from Operating Room to Intensive Care Unit at Cardiovascular Surgery Hospital of Ain Shams University

Abstract

Abstract Background Handovers of post-anesthesia patients to the intensive care unit are commonly unstructured and performed under time pressure. The cardiovascular patients are transferred directly to intensive care unit after the operation, as these vulnerable patients need more and faster care. Therefore, the handover processes are more susceptible to poor communication, loss of information and potential patient harm. Objective To identify the frequency of defects of current practice of healthcare providers during handover process from operating room to ICU after cardiovascular surgery and to determine the contributing factors that affect the transition of care process. Methods This descriptive Cross-sectional study was conducted after cardiovascular surgery the intensive care unit of Cardiovascular Surgery Hospital, one of Ain Shams University Hospitals between December 2021 to March 2022. A checklist was used to assess the performance of handover processes of 120 adult patients after cardiovascular operation, which included 8 main areas (Contributing factor, Pre-handover, Equipment and technology handover, Patient specific information, Anesthesia information, Surgical information, Duration of handover process, Distraction) Results The mean age of patients was 56.03 ± 10.77 years and most of them 85 (70.8%) were males. The median number of errors in pre-handover process was 0(0), patient specific information 3(1), anesthesia information 3(0), surgical information 4.5(2) and equipment handover 3(0). The mean duration of handover processes in minutes was 15.09 ± 5.69 (range 8–35) and 76 (63.3%) of the processes had distractions. There was no significant correlation between age, duration of surgery, duration of handover and number of errors regarding (pre- handover, patient information, anesthesia information, surgical information and equipment handover).The important items were not handed over at all(name of the patient, allergies to medication, estimated blood loss, medications given during surgery which need to be restarted) Conclusions and Recommendations The overall omission is low in spite of the expected to be zero, taking into consideration the type of procedures and the patient condition, so the critical situation need every elements must be fulfilled for patient safety and to avoid complications that may threat the patient life.