Data from: Handover training for medical students – a controlled educational trial of a pilot curriculum

Background: Handovers are a critical point of patient care and a significant source of adverse events. The WHO patient safety curriculum provides some structure for handover teaching; in Europe, there is no standardized curriculum for undergraduate handover training. To address this, the Aachen Interdisciplinary Training Centre for Medical Education, developed and established a pilot curriculum for handover training in the context of the EU-funded PATIENT-project Objective: To develop and implement a handover curriculum for medical students and to assess its effect on students’ awareness, confidence and knowledge regarding patient safety and handover in multiple settings. Methods: The pilot handover training curriculum was designed following Kern´s principles of curriculum development and was integrated into a curricular course led by departments for anesthesiology and intensive care (AI) at the University Hospital. A controlled educational research study was conducted with 4th year medical students (n=147) who either received the standard existing curriculum (no teaching of handover, n=78) or the pilot handover training (n=69). Paper-based questionnaires regarding attitude, confidence and knowledge towards handover and patient safety were used for pre- and post-assessment. The pilot curriculum consisted of 3 units (1-2 hours each) integrated into a 4-week course of AI. Multiple types of handover (end-of-shift, operating room/post anesthesia recovery unit/ICU, telephone, discharge) were addressed. Results: Students showed a significant increase in knowledge (p<0.01) and self-confidence for the use of standardized handover tools (p<0.01) and accurate handover performance (p<0.01) among the pilot group. Discussion/Conclusion: We developed and implemented a pilot curriculum for undergraduate handover training. Students displayed a significant increase in knowledge and self-confidence for the use of standardized handover tools and accurate handover performance. An evaluation of the curriculum by other faculties is needed. Further studies should evaluate whether the observed effect of a specific handover strategy is associated with a patient benefit.背景：患者交接是患者照护的关键环节，也是不良事件的重要诱因。世界卫生组织（World Health Organization, WHO）的患者安全课程为交接教学提供了一定框架，但欧洲目前尚无针对本科生的标准化交接培训课程。为此，亚琛医学教育跨学科培训中心依托欧盟资助的PATIENT项目，开发并确立了一套交接培训试点课程。 目标：开发并面向医学生推出一套交接培训课程，并评估该课程对医学生在多场景下的患者安全与交接相关认知、自信心及专业知识的影响。 方法：本试点交接培训课程遵循Kern课程开发原则设计，整合至亚琛大学医院麻醉与重症医学科（Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, AI）牵头的课程中。本研究采用对照教育研究设计，招募147名四年级医学生，将其分为两组：对照组（78人，仅接受现有标准课程，未开展交接教学）与试点组（69人，接受试点交接培训）。分别采用纸质问卷对两组学生在交接与患者安全相关的态度、自信心及专业知识进行前后测评。试点课程包含3个单元（每单元1-2学时），整合至为期4周的AI课程中，涵盖多种交接场景：班中交接、手术室/麻醉后监护病房/重症监护室交接、电话交接以及出院交接。 结果：试点组学生的专业知识水平、标准化交接工具使用自信心以及规范交接操作自信心均显著提升（p<0.01）。 讨论与结论：本研究开发并推出了面向本科生的交接培训试点课程，试点组学生的专业知识水平、标准化交接工具使用自信心以及规范交接操作自信心均显著提升。未来需开展其他院系对该课程的评估工作，同时还需进一步研究特定交接策略的干预效果是否与患者获益相关。