Data from: Handover training for medical students – a controlled educational trial of a pilot curriculum

Background: Handovers are a critical point of patient care and a significant source of adverse events. The WHO patient safety curriculum provides some structure for handover teaching; in Europe, there is no standardized curriculum for undergraduate handover training. To address this, the Aachen Interdisciplinary Training Centre for Medical Education, developed and established a pilot curriculum for handover training in the context of the EU-funded PATIENT-project Objective: To develop and implement a handover curriculum for medical students and to assess its effect on students’ awareness, confidence and knowledge regarding patient safety and handover in multiple settings. Methods: The pilot handover training curriculum was designed following Kern´s principles of curriculum development and was integrated into a curricular course led by departments for anesthesiology and intensive care (AI) at the University Hospital. A controlled educational research study was conducted with 4th year medical students (n=147) who either received the standard existing curriculum (no teaching of handover, n=78) or the pilot handover training (n=69). Paper-based questionnaires regarding attitude, confidence and knowledge towards handover and patient safety were used for pre- and post-assessment. The pilot curriculum consisted of 3 units (1-2 hours each) integrated into a 4-week course of AI. Multiple types of handover (end-of-shift, operating room/post anesthesia recovery unit/ICU, telephone, discharge) were addressed. Results: Students showed a significant increase in knowledge (p<0.01) and self-confidence for the use of standardized handover tools (p<0.01) and accurate handover performance (p