Abstract: Objective: To develop a software for the handover of critically ill patients in the emergency department and evaluate its application effects. Methods: Design a software for critically ill patients in the emergency department based on SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation) model, and embed it into the emergency information system. The quality of handover, the time spent on writing the handover notes, omissions and corrections occurred in the handover notes, and nurses' satisfaction were used to evaluate the effects of the new handover procedure. Results: It was found that compared to the control group, the observation group had higher average score of the Handover Evaluation Scale, less time spent on writing the handover notes, fewer errors and corrections occurred in the handover notes, and higher nurses' satisfaction towards the handover procedure. All the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: The use of a handover software designed based on the SBAR model in the emergency department standardizes the content of nurses' handover procedure, avoids the omissions and duplicates of handover notes, shortens the time spent on writing the handover notes, and ultimately improves the quality of handover and nurses' satisfaction towards the handover procedure.

Key words: SBAR model; critically ill; handover software; emergency