National Clinical Handover Initiative Pilot Program
The Pilot Program was conducted in 2007–2009, and involved 14 public and private sector organisations funded to develop and trial practical and transferable tools for improving clinical handover.
The National Clinical Handover Initiative Pilot Program involved 56 hospitals in six jurisdictions, including primary and aged care services.
Pilot Program outcomes
Tools and solutions developed through the pilot program included:
- protocols for improving medical and nursing shift-to-shift handover
- materials on using briefing techniques at handover (e.g. SBAR, ISBAR, iSoBAR, ISOBAR, SHARED)
- tools for inter-facility transfers; online education tools
- materials on team communication.
The Pilot Program was externally evaluated in 2010. The evaluation found that the Pilot had significantly increased the evidence base surrounding clinical handover.
The tools and solutions developed through the National Clinical Handover Initiative Pilot Program are available through the Implementation Toolkit for Clinical Handover Improvement.