Trial reportBMJ open2019
Safe handovers for every patient: an interrupted time series analysis to test the effect of a structured discharge bundle in Dutch hospitals.
Trial report in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hospital discharge communication problems in 10 high-income nations: a secondary analysis of an international health policy survey.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Observational
- A social ecological approach to promote learning health disparities in the clinical years: impact of a home-visiting educational program for medical students.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Quality of hospital discharge letters for patients at the end of life: A retrospective medical record review.European journal of cancer care · 2022Article
- Development and implementation of a transmural palliative care consultation service: a multiple case study in the Netherlands.BMC palliative care · 2021Article
- Palliative care nurse champions' views on their role and impact: a qualitative interview study among hospital and home care nurses.BMC palliative care · 2021Article
- Physicians' perspectives on estimating and communicating prognosis in palliative care: a cross-sectional survey.BJGP open · 2020Article
- Quality of collaboration and information handovers in palliative care: a survey study on the perspectives of nurses in the Southwest Region of the Netherlands.European journal of public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivePatient handovers are often delayed, patients are hardly involved in their discharge process and hospital-wide standardised discharge procedures are lacking. The aim of this study was to implement a structured discharge bundle and to test the effect on timeliness of medical and nursing handovers, length of hospital stay (LOS) and unplanned readmissions.
designInterrupted time series with six preintervention and six postintervention data collection points (September 2015 to June 2017).
settingInternal medicine and surgical wards
participantsPatients (≥18 years) admitted for more than 48 hours to surgical or internal medicine wards.
interventionThe Transfer Intervention Procedure (TIP), containing four elements: planning the discharge date within 48 hours postadmission; arrangements for postdischarge care; preparing handovers and personalised patient discharge letter; and a discharge conversation 12-24 hours before discharge. OUTCOME MEASURES: The number of medical and nursing handovers sent within 24 hours. Secondary outcomes were median time between discharge and medical handovers, LOS and unplanned readmissions.
resultsPreintervention 1039 and postintervention 1052 patient records were reviewed. No significant change was observed in the number of medical and nursing handovers sent within 24 hours. The median (IQR) time between discharge and medical handovers decreased from 6.15 (0.96-15.96) to 4.08 (0.33-13.67) days, but no significant difference was found. No intervention effect was observed for LOS and readmission. In subgroup analyses, a reduction of 5.6 days in the median time between discharge and medical handovers was observed in hospitals with high protocol adherence and much attention for implementation.
conclusionImplementation of a structured discharge bundle did not lead to improved timeliness of patient handovers. However, large interhospital variation was observed and an intervention effect on the median time between discharge and medical handovers was seen in hospitals with high protocol adherence. Future interventions should continue to create awareness of the importance of timely handovers. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NTR5951; Results.
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