EP584 - The standard of evening handover in the acute surgical department of a single regional centre: a closed-loop audit

Aims Handover is an important period that represents a potential risk to patient safety. The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng) have published guidelines on safe handover practice. The aim of this closed-loop two-cycle audit was to ensure general surgery patients at a single regional centre were handed over according to RCSEng guidelines. Method Evening handovers were prospectively audited between May 2023 to July 2023 using a proforma adapted from the RCSEng guidelines. A questionnaire relating to junior doctors’ views on the night handover was electronically disseminated prior to the first cycle. The intervention was an educational guide for foundation doctors on how to effectively hand over surgical patients, based on the RCSEng guidelines. P-values were calculated using a Mann-Whitney U test. Results 15 handovers were audited in the first cycle; of 84 patients handed over, 31% (26/84) met the RCSEng handover ‘minimum’ standard. 13 handovers were audited in the second cycle; 84 patients were handed over, the ‘minimum’ standard rate increased to 67% (56/84) (p=0.003). There were 25 responses to the questionnaire, 92% (23/25) were by foundation doctors, 48% (12/25) volunteered wanting more teaching on handovers. Conclusions Introduction of an educational handover guide is a useful method to improve the quality of surgical handovers, particularly in regional centres that may have a more complex case mix. This guide was later introduced as part of the ‘induction pack’ for foundation doctors rotating into surgery.