Correlation Between Handover and Nursing Care Documentation in Hospital Settings

Abstract

Professional nursing care requires the effective implementation of nursing handover to ensure continuity of care. Nursing handover should be conducted briefly, clearly, accurately, and systematically by communicating information regarding independent nursing interventions, collaborative interventions, completed and pending nursing actions, as well as the patient's current condition to support optimal nursing care documentation (Nursalam, 2016). This study aimed to determine the relationship between nursing handover and nursing care documentation in hospitals. The study employed a literature review method by searching scientific articles in Google Scholar using the keywords nursing handover and nursing care documentation. A total of seven articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed descriptively. The findings indicated a significant relationship between effective nursing handover practices and the quality of nursing care documentation. Therefore, the commitment and awareness of every nurse to perform handovers according to established standards are essential to improve the quality of nursing services and ensure continuity of nursing care.