Nurse perceptions of person-centered handovers in the oncological inpatient setting: A qualitative study.

Background: Deficient communication during shift change can cause negative patient outcomes and hinder person-centeredness in care. Person-centered handover is performed together with the patient at bedside, with the intention of providing a safe and efficient handover while promoting patient participation. The knowledge about nurse perspectives on handover models that involve patient participation is sparse.

Objective: To describe registered nurses' perceptions of person-centered handover in an oncological inpatient setting.

Design: A qualitative interview study.

Setting: The study was undertaken at two oncological inpatient wards at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, where person-centered handover was implemented in 2015.

Participants: Registered nurses who had worked at the wards for at least six months. We aimed for a full sample investigation. All eligible nurses (n = 13) were approached, and 11 chose to participate. Participants' age ranged from 23 to 60 years, the mean work experience was 10 years, and 4 out of 11 nurses were oncology nurse specialists.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were performed by an independent researcher. The data was analyzed using content analysis with an inductive approach.

Results: Three main themes with ten subsequent subthemes emerged from the data. The main themes were: clinical communication and assessment; opportunity for patient participation; consequences for nursing care. In general, the nurses were positive towards person-centered handover, but they expressed concerns regarding patients' integrity and insecurities regarding bedside communication. All nurses described how they aimed at enhancing patient participation and viewed person-centered handover as an opportunity, but still perceived it difficult to succeed due to drawbacks and factors hindering nursing care. Overall, the nurses were positive regarding the involvement of patients in the handover procedure. Information provision from nurse to patient, as opposed to information exchange, was predominant.

Conclusions: The intentions of person-centered handovers differed from the way it was actually performed, especially in regards to the obtained levels of patient participation, as described by nurses. Professional insecurity in relation to bedside communication with patients and their visitors is a novel finding that should be considered when implementing person-centered handovers. Overall, the perceptions of person-centered handovers, as expressed by the nurses, enhance our understanding of what to consider when implementing the model and why compliance may vary.