Structured shift huddle training and its influence on nurses’ knowledge, safety awareness, and clinical performance: a quasi-experimental investigation

Abstract Background Shift huddles are brief, structured team briefings used to create shared situational awareness, identify emerging safety concerns, and coordinate priorities. Evidence is generally supportive, but much of the published huddle literature uses uncontrolled pre-post designs, making causal attribution difficult. This study assessed changes in nurses’ knowledge, safety awareness, and clinical performance following a structured shift huddle and patient-safety training program. Methods A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used in critical and non-critical inpatient units of a cardiovascular surgery teaching hospital affiliated with Ain Shams University Hospitals, Egypt. Eighty-two nurses (52 staff nurses and 30 supervisors/head nurses) completed baseline, immediate post-training, and follow-up assessments. Outcomes were measured using researcher-developed and adapted questionnaires and observational checklists covering shift huddles and International Patient Safety Goals (IPSGs). Results Overall satisfactory knowledge increased from 32.9% at baseline to 93.9% immediately after training and 82.9% at follow-up. Overall high awareness increased from 29.3% to 100.0% and then 79.3%, respectively. Overall adequate patient-safety practice increased from 50.0% to 100.0% and then 75.6%. The largest changes were observed immediately after training, with partial retention at follow-up. Because the same nurses were measured repeatedly, the phase-comparison p-values from the source Pearson chi-square analysis are treated as exploratory and the descriptive changes are emphasized. Conclusions Participation in the structured training program was associated with large short-term improvements in measured knowledge, awareness, and observed patient-safety practice, with partial attenuation at follow-up. Because the study had no concurrent control group and used direct observation, the magnitude of change cannot be attributed solely to the intervention. Controlled, multicentre evaluations with blinded or independently assessed outcomes are warranted. Trial registration Not applicable.