To Örebro University

OBJECTIVE: To describe variations in critical care nurses' perceptions of handover.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Phenomenographic design using individual interviews for data-collection.

SETTING: The critical care nurses participating in the study were recruited from critical care units in three hospitals in Sweden.

FINDINGS: Five descriptive categories were identified: Communication between staff, Opportunity for learning, Patient-centred information gathering as a basis for continuous care, Responsibility for transfers, and Patient safety and quality of care.

CONCLUSION: Nursing handover is a complex phenomenon, which is understood in various ways. Handover is mediated through communication and marks a shift in responsibility. Handover seems to be related to patient safety and quality of care. There is potential for improvement in the quality of nursing handover in clinical praxis, but further research is needed to determine ways of improving quality of handover.