Nursing Handover Research Project - Wintec Research Archive

etter systems some elements within handover are lost. There is great importance of
handover to the nurse as a ritual that nurtures and protects. Handover serves to support
nurses within their social system and group culture thus relieving associated workplace
distress that is associated with nursing. The group can work together in the environment they
know with their experiences to look at their successes and the potential for risks. Handover
offers valuable time for this. Handover actually can support many different constructs.
Conclusion
In contemporary times of technological advances such as e mail, face to face communication
is being used less and less. Nursing handover remains one of the few face to face
communications left. Handover occurs numerous times each day and is part of most nurses’
reality. It has become a taken for granted practice without taking the time to really look at
how it is constructed. When looking at practice development around handover it is important
to look at its construction.
This research project has come from a constructionist and social constructionist
epistemology. Nursing handover alone has no meaning and meaning is only constructed by
the nurses themselves and their social interaction. Using Gee’s (2005) first three steps
significance, activities and identities it has illuminated the different constructs that make up
nursing handover and what is gained or lost by such construction. Favouring one construct
over another it places less value on some of the other constructs. Nursing handover is such a
vital form of communication and it is crucial that the different constructs are not competing
against each other. Patient safety has become a major focus which is honourable but other
important aspects that effect nursing need not to be competing with this construct. Equally as
important are the aspects of the nursing handover ritual that act to support and nurture the
nurse, the group and the culture.
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