Introduction
A handover is a core feature in CAREFUL that allows you to transfer responsibility for a patient -- along with all their outstanding actions -- from one clinician to another. This ensures seamless continuity of care during shift changes, when going off duty, or when transferring care to a colleague.
Before You Start
Permissions required:
- You must be responsible for the patient(s) you want to hand over
- The person receiving the handover must be a member of at least one team in common with each patient
Important to know:
- A handover is not complete until the receiving user accepts it
- You cannot hand over the same patient to multiple people at once
- The receiving user can reject your handover request
- You can cancel a handover request before it's accepted
What Gets Transferred in a Handover
When a handover is accepted, the receiving clinician receives:
- Responsibility for the patient -- they become the designated responsible clinician
- All outstanding actions assigned to you for that patient -- these are reassigned to them
- Patient care continuity -- they can now manage the patient's care as you did
The patient's demographics, notes, and team membership remain unchanged. Only the responsible clinician and action assignments transfer.
Three Ways to Initiate a Handover
CAREFUL offers three ways to hand over patients, depending on your needs:
1. Single Patient Handover
Hand over one patient from their patient profile page.
When to use: You want to transfer care for a specific patient to a colleague.
How to access: From the patient's profile page, open the kebab menu (⋮) and select "Handover Patient".
2. All Patients in a Team
Hand over all your patients within a specific team.
When to use: You're finishing a shift in one department and want to hand over all patients in that team to the incoming clinician.
How to access: From the team view, open the kebab menu (⋮) and select "Handover all my patients in this team".
3. All Your Patients
Hand over all patients you're responsible for across all teams.
When to use: You're going off duty completely and want to transfer all your patients to a colleague in one go.
How to access: From the My Patients page, open the kebab menu (⋮) and select "Handover all patients".
The Handover Workflow
A successful handover involves three steps:
Step 1: Sending the Handover Request
- Initiate the handover using one of the three methods above
- A dialog box opens: "Request patient handover for [Patient Name]" (or similar, depending on the method)
- Search for the clinician you want to hand over to by typing their name
- Select the target user from the search results -- you'll see their name, role, and job title
- Click "Send handover request"
The handover request is now sent and appears in your Handovers > Sent tab.
Step 2: Receiving the Handover Request
The receiving clinician will see the handover request in their Handovers > Received tab. They have two options:
- Accept the handover (green tick button) -- responsibility and actions transfer immediately
- Reject the handover (red X button) -- the handover is cancelled
Step 3: Completion or Cancellation
If accepted:
- Responsibility transfers to the receiving clinician
- All outstanding actions are reassigned to them
- Both users receive confirmation
- The handover disappears from the Handovers page
If rejected:
- The handover is cancelled
- Responsibility remains with you
- You retain all outstanding actions
- You'll need to find another colleague or try again
If you cancel before acceptance:
- You can cancel a sent handover by clicking "Cancel" in your Handovers > Sent tab
- The receiving user will no longer see the request
- Responsibility remains with you
Restrictions and Limitations
You Cannot Hand Over the Same Patient Twice
If you've already sent a handover request for a patient to someone, you cannot send another handover for that patient to a different person until the first handover is completed or cancelled.
Error message you'll see: "You have already issued a handover request for the patient to [user name]."
What to do: Cancel the existing handover first, then send a new one.
The Receiving User Must Be in a Team with the Patient
For a handover to work, the person receiving must be a member of at least one team in common with each patient being handed over.
What happens if not: The system will block those patients from the handover and show you a warning: "User is not in a team with the patient."
For team or all-patients handovers: You'll see a list of blocked patients with reasons. You can still proceed with the handover for the remaining patients.
You Can Only Hand Over Patients You're Responsible For
You must currently be the responsible clinician for a patient to hand them over.
What to do: If you're not responsible but need to hand over a patient, first take responsibility for them, then initiate the handover.
Tips
- Check your sent handovers regularly -- if a colleague hasn't accepted your handover, follow up with them directly
- Review received handovers promptly -- pending handovers mean patients are waiting for care continuity
- Use team handovers for efficiency -- if you're handing over multiple patients in the same team to the same person, use "Handover all my patients in this team" rather than one-by-one
- Communicate with your colleague -- let them know you've sent a handover so they can accept it quickly
- Before going off duty -- always ensure all your handover requests have been accepted, or find alternative coverage
Note: "Handover" and "Handoff" Are the Same
In some countries and organisations, handover is referred to as "handoff" or "sign-out". CAREFUL uses "handover" consistently in the UK, but you may see "handoff" if you're using CAREFUL in a region where that term is more common.