Handovers that work: ensuring patient safety through effective team communication

Patient handovers are a common feature of clinical practice and high‐quality handovers are essential for patient safety. A handover involves transferring the professional and clinical responsibility for a patient to another health care provider such as at shift changes, during inpatient transfer and in emergencies, however these can present a risk to both patient and clinical team if conducted improperly. High‐quality communication is central to an effective handover to ensure efficient information transfer while maintaining optimal team culture. This article aims to provide a practical guide to introducing handover techniques to a clinical team.