TY - JOUR T1 - The European HANDOVER project: the role of nursing JF - BMJ Quality & Safety JO - BMJ Qual Saf SP - i6 LP - i8 DO - 10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001253 VL - 21 IS - Suppl 1 AU - Shirley M Moore Y1 - 2012/12/01 UR - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/21/Suppl_1/i6.abstract N2 - In this issue of BMJ Quality and Safety, two articles from the European HANDOVER Project (Gobel et al 1 and Johnson et al 2) highlight the complexity of patient handovers between health professionals in acute-care settings and primary-care settings. On the surface, it seems that handovers in patient transitions between acute care and primary care involve rather straightforward communication between and among well-meaning providers. Yet, findings from the HANDOVER Project, and nearly two decades of research addressing handovers during care transitions, suggest otherwise. The common, everyday process of these handovers is fraught with errors that present a major threat to patient safety and quality of care, and is a source of waste in a nation's healthcare systems, as patients are inappropriately rehospitalised and/or undergo unneeded diagnostic tests, and is a source of patient and family dissatisfaction and concern. Understanding and improving the handover process has become a major healthcare delivery system initiative. Nurses play a significant clinical role in handovers within and between care settings, and have also been integral to advancing knowledge about the handover process and its improvement. Traditionally, nurses have had a key role in the management of care coordination systems in healthcare agencies. Handovers have been a major focus for nurses—handovers from shift to shift, healthcare setting to healthcare setting, and healthcare setting to home. In addition to initiating handovers within and from the hospital, nurses also are on the receiving end of patients transferred to rehabilitation centres, long-term care facilities, and home health providers. Additionally, discharge planning and home-going instructions for patients have a long history of being in the domain of nursing. More recently, nurses have assumed care coordination functions across settings, including roles as care coordinators for disease management, case managers and transitional care advanced practice nurses. Most important, nurses have a … ER -