TY - JOUR T1 - Paperless handover: are we ready? JF - BMJ Quality & Safety JO - BMJ Qual Saf SP - 299 LP - 301 DO - 10.1136/bmjqs-2015-005027 VL - 25 IS - 5 AU - Arpana R Vidyarthi AU - Maitreya Coffey Y1 - 2016/05/01 UR - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/25/5/299.abstract N2 - Scribbling patient information into the margins of pieces of paper during handover is a time-honoured tradition. House staff carefully guard these lists in pockets of white coats, on clipboards, or tucked into shoulder bags. They pull them out once the beeper goes off or mobile phone rings, and peer at the trusted information on the crumpled paper to guide their decision-making. ‘Patient So-and-So has a fever’, a nurse pages to inform the resident on-call, ‘Can we give something for the fever? Do you want any blood work?’ Other patients have confusion, pain or changes in their urine output. House staff record these events in check boxes, lines and circles, and read this back through bleary eyes to the incoming morning team.The scene describes a common experience for house staff using handover documents. Given the non-standardised formats and often idiosyncratic forms of documentation, it has come as no surprise that handover, (also known as handoff, sign-out, passoff or transfer of accountability) represents a common source of communication failures.1 As such, regulating bodies now mandate using structured handover processes and the teaching of handover competencies.2 ,3 Over the past decade, a substantial body of research has informed our understanding of handover processes and quality, and a recent focused effort to improve handovers produced significant reductions in preventable patient harm.4 Notwithstanding these recommendations, the ritual of printing the handover document persists.In an analysis of the use of the printed handover document at a major academic medical centre, Rosenbluth et al5 examined its ‘half-life’, defined as the time at which half of the patients on the list would be expected to have inaccurate information present. They found that the half-life is remarkably short: only 3 h during the day and 6 h overnight. Their approach is novel and accessible, … ER -