Ethnographic observations from Nursing Handovers in ICU

In our study at a tertiary hospital in South Africa, we worked with 31 nurses to co-design a visual handover tool. We observed current handover practices, engaged nurses in an interactive journal club, and developed the tool through participatory action research. We used short, focused sessions, or "seven-minute scrums," and visual methods, including large scale graphics, to involve nurses from all categories despite their busy schedules. Leadership support was essential, with leaders showing openness to new approaches and encouraging nurse participation.The visual tool, co-designed in short sessions, uses simple icons to ensure no information is lost, guiding a standardised and structured reporting on patient care and infection prevention. By actively involving nurses in the design process, we invited shared ownership and responsibility. This tool aims to enhance handover accuracy to improve patient care delivery in a low resource setting.

在我国南非的一所三级医院中，本研究与31位护士共同设计了一款视觉交接工具。我们观察了现有的交接流程，通过互动式期刊俱乐部与护士进行交流，并基于参与式行动研究开发了该工具。我们采用短暂而集中的会议，即所谓的‘七分钟冲刺’，以及视觉方法，包括大规模的图形，以容纳所有类别的护士，即便他们日程繁忙。领导层的支持至关重要，领导层展现出对新方法的开放态度，并鼓励护士的参与。这款在短时间内共同设计的视觉工具，通过使用简单的图标确保信息不丢失，引导标准化的结构化报告，关于患者护理和感染预防。通过在设计中积极吸纳护士的意见，我们促进了共同拥有感和责任感的形成。此工具旨在提升交接的准确性，以改善低资源环境下的患者护理服务。