Why do patient handovers between doctors go wrong?

Patient handovers go wrong because they are usually spoken, quick and unrecorded. A doctor passes a patient on in the corridor between rounds, and the next doctor gets only what they remember. Medicines, tests and follow-up dates slip. Turning that spoken handover into a short written note, without the doctor typing, fixes most of it.

Why are handovers spoken in the first place?

Doctors in busy hospitals have very little time. Writing a full note after every patient often doesn’t happen. So they talk: to the next doctor, to the nurse, to the family.

What gets lost?

• which tests were ordered, and which are back
• a change in medicine or dose
• when the patient should come back
• what the family was told

How do you keep handovers without slowing doctors down?

Let them keep talking. A short voice note after a patient, in whatever language they think in, can become a consult note, a list of tests and a follow-up date. The doctor checks it with one tap. The next doctor, the lab and reception all see the same thing.

This is one of the things Kyrra does today for clinics. Also read what a lost patient file costs.