Bedside handovers in mental health care: An explorative review.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Involving mental healthcare patients in nursing handover practices seems a promising method for increasing patient participation, empowerment, and shared decision-making but is hardly found in practice. METHOD: An explorative review on bedside handovers in mental health care was conducted. Searched databases included CINHAHL, Web of Science, PubMed, and Embase. The search strategy yielded 3126 articles. Nine articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. RESULTS: Pre- and post-implementation perspectives were described, as well as strategies for implementation. After the implementation of bedside handover, nurses and patients experienced more time spent together and a greater sense of involvement with the care plans could be noticed. DISCUSSION: Being involved in bedside handovers facilitates active participation and open dialogue between nurses and patients. This accelerates the opportunities for patients to take part in shared decision-making and feel recognised as experts in their illness experience. More research on possible differences in effectiveness across different patient diagnoses is recommended. CONCLUSION: Involving patients in mental health care in handover practices seems a promising method but limited research has been done to explore the meaning it has to mental healthcare nurses and patients.