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：医护交接班（handover）是患者照护的关键环节，同时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班教学提供了一定框架；但在欧洲地区，尚未有面向本科医学生的标准化交接班培训课程。为解决这一问题，亚琛医学教育跨学科培训中心依托欧盟（European Union, EU）资助的PATIENT项目，开发并确立了一套交接班培训试点课程。
目标：开发并实施面向本科医学生的交接班培训课程，并评估其对多场景下医学生在患者安全与医护交接班相关认知、自信心及知识水平的影响。
方法：本试点交接班培训课程遵循克恩课程开发原则（Kern´s principles of curriculum development）进行设计，并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。研究采用对照教育研究设计，招募147名四年级医学生，其中78名接受现有标准课程（未开展交接班教学），69名接受试点交接班培训。研究采用纸质问卷对受试者关于交接班与患者安全的态度、自信心及知识水平进行前后测评估。本次试点课程包含3个单元（每单元1-2小时），整合于为期4周的麻醉与重症医学课程中，涵盖轮班结束交接、手术室/麻醉后监护病房/重症监护室交接、电话交接及出院交接等多种类型的交接班场景。
结果：试点组学生在相关知识掌握水平（p<0.01）、标准化交接班工具使用自信心（p<0.01）及规范交接班操作能力（p<0.01）方面均呈现显著提升。
讨论/结论：本研究开发并实施了一套面向本科医学生的交接班培训试点课程。试点组学生的相关知识掌握水平与标准化交接班工具使用、规范交接班操作的自信心均得到显著提升。未来需开展其他院系对本课程的评估工作，同时还应进一步探究特定交接班策略的观测效应是否与患者获益相关。