Developing an ESP workshop to promote handover practices in nursing communication: A case study of nurses in a bilingual hospital in Hong Kong

Handovers are major clinical tasks in nursing practice involving the transfer of responsibility and accountability for patient care from one nurse to another. As English-medium nursing training is increasing, nurses who use English as a second language may find handovers challenging. Ineffective communication during handovers due to incomplete and unstructured information can be a major contributor to patient harm and critical incidents in hospitals. This study evaluates whether ESP workshops can enhance nurses’ communication skills in handovers by incorporating handover protocols (i.e., the use of ISBAR, CARE) for better logical sequencing of clinical information and good quality of interactions between nurses. A 3-hour ESP handover communication workshop was implemented in a hospital in Hong Kong with a study population of 55 nurses. Data were collected through observations, surveys, and interviews and were analysed pre- and post-workshop. The findings indicate that post-workshop both informative and interactive dimensions improved in 1) message delivery after using ISBAR, 2) coherence due to sequential marker use and 3) increased interaction between incoming and outgoing staff as demonstrated by active clarification seeking and comprehension checking. ESP support for nurses should focus on English needs in performing clinical tasks so that optimal care can be provided.