Aim
The aim of this research project is to explore how nursing handover is talked about within current, scholarly, peer reviewed, published nursing literature from 2004-2010.

Background
Part of most nurses’ daily reality is nursing handover. In each hospital where I have worked there seemed to be no clear policy for delivering handover and each nurse chose their own method, making handover inconsistent. The value placed on handover varied from nurse to nurse, and area to area.

Method
A constructionist and social constructionist epistemology was used to support this research. A constructionist viewpoint allows nursing handover reality to gain meaning in a social context. The analysis focused on the literature’s discursive constructions of nursing handover. The first three steps of Gee’s (2005) discourse analysis framework; significance, activities and identities were used to look at the constructs of handover and what is gained by such construction.

Recommendations for practice
It is important to value nursing handover and its place in contemporary nursing. Handover serves other functions other than just the communication of information, and important aspects such as debriefing and reflection need to be respected. There is professional practice anxiety associated with nursing care and handover allows time for the psycho/social aspects of nursing to be provided for.

Conclusion
This research project considers perspectives that are different from traditional positivistic approaches by analysing discourses that construct nursing handover. Recommendations to positively impact patient outcomes through improved nursing handover, language and format can be informed by these perspectives.