Tell me about it! Improving the quality of anaesthetic handover in Obstetric Recovery.

A. Gosal, O. Cheetham, M. Nejdlova, S. Scutt

Introduction and Aims

It is well-recognised that a high-quality handover is crucial to providing effective post-operative care, and variability in practice can threaten patient safety due to information being missed.1 The Association of Anaesthetists recommends the use of formal handover checklists in recovery.2 Obstetrics has a high proportion of emergency and out-of-hours work, and clear communication under pressure within the multi-disciplinary team is vital in this environment.

In our unit, we noticed there is sometimes difficulty recalling all pertinent details when giving anaesthetic handover in Obstetrics. This is why we developed a project to help address this.