From the certainty of information transfer to the ambiguity of intuition

Abstract

Handovers between shifts are known causes of preventable adverse events in hospitals. In order to gain an insight into the information transfer that occurs between shifts of senior staff in an emergency department, we observed handovers, interviewed practitioners and distributed questionnaires. We found that merely considering the transfer of hard data, such as patients' heart rate, blood pressure, etc. can be insufficient: the transfer of soft data such as the ambiguity of intuition is also a central aspect in this type of work environment and vital for successful crosscoverage. We describe design concepts that address capture, visualization and transfer of intuition for the handover process. Addressing the issue of intuition support can be a challenge but also a rewarding opportunity for human-computer interaction research in supporting health care handovers.