Receiving a handover

Introductions

• Initiate introductions

Break ice

• e.g. ‘How was your night?’

Patients

• How many to handover?
• Handover each patient separately using SBAR:

Situation (core details)

• Patient details (name, DOB, hospital number)
• Patient location
• Major problem at the moment

Background (admission and history) 

• Admission details (if inpatient): date, admission reason, treatments
• Past medical history
• ± any other relevant aspects of the history

Assessment 

• Observations
• Examination findings
• Investigations received/pending
• Management so far

Recommendations 

• Diagnosis/differentials 
• Management plan and outstanding jobs

Summarise 

• Summarise each patient’s details back to your colleague

Closing

• Thank the doctor handing over

Tips for receiving a handover

• Try to get all the important details you normally would get from a patient if you had seen them yourself (including exploring symptoms, risk factors and relevant system reviews). Your colleague won’t necessarily remember to hand over all the information without you asking.
• Don’t just accept their diagnosis
• Ask if expected management has been done