Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Introduction Nursing handover is the transfer of responsibility and accountability for patients care between nurses that conducted three times a day in most nursing wards globally. 1 It has been described as having different functions such as transfer of information as an overt functions and socialization, cohesiveness and release of frustrations and emotions as covert functions. 2,3 Each ward vary in their method of sharing information during handover, range from face-to-face verbal reports in the station or at the patient’s bedside to written and taped reports. 4,5 It is a crucial part of a nurse’s duty that each nurse should allocate 38% of his/her working hours to conduct this process. 6 Research showed that the total nursing hours devoted to nursing handover each day in 1995 is seven. Consequently, the cost of nursing handover estimated at averages US $181.72 per day for one nursing unit. Considering a hospital with 10 wards, a nursing handover translates into a cost of US $1,817.20 per day, US $12,720.40 per week, US $50,881.60 per month, and US $610,570.20 per year, so nursing handover is too way time consuming and costing. 7 Also, researchers showed that communication failures at handover are as a major source of error in hospitals (65% of sentinel events) 8,9 and ineffective handover could lead to delayed in diagnosis and test ordering, decreased patient satisfaction and increased hospitals complications, 10 but when nursing handover is done in an ethnically based manner, the quality and safety of patient care is improved, relationships are strengthened, and team effciency and functioning are enhanced. 11 So in the fscally challenged world of health care, these problems may serve as an incentive to focus attention on a more effcient means of nursing handover. To date, a variety of interventions for improving nursing handover is applied, 12‒15 but since nursing handover is a multidimensional process it should be considered in action research study to insure that accurate information is collected and communicated at each step of the change process. 14 Action research is a useful method for developing innovation, improving healthcare, developing knowledge and understanding in practitioners, and involvement in users and staff. 16‒18 The participatory process is educative and empowering, involving a dynamic approach in which problem identifcation; planning, action and evaluation are interlinked and Knowledge may be advanced through refection and research. 19‒23 A key consideration in determining whether an intervention should be provided in a given hospital setting is whether the effects of a program justify the costs of providing that program and the benefts. 24,25 The most frequently used techniques for economic evaluation in health care is cost-effectiveness. It aims to inform health policy makers about the best way to allocate limited health care resources in order to obtain maximal health outcomes. 26 So, this study aimed to improve nursing handover through an action research study and asses the cost effectiveness of the program. Methods Design: This study was an economic evaluation (cost-effectiveness analysis) conducted in parallel with an action research study from the nursing service perspective. Participants and setting: The participants including 12 nurses, 2 diplomas, the head nurse and academic researchers as facilitators started the research in a pediatric ward during 20 month in Shiraz in the South of Iran during 2012 to 2014. Intervention: The participants worked through two cycles of refection and action for change. In the frst phase, the facilitators and participants discovered the challenges of nursing handover. After that the participants refected on their experiences and designed an operational plan and prioritized them. In this phase they participated in two workshops for empowerment in nursing handover. Third phase resulted in implementing action plan and immersing in action for change for about four months. At the end of the frst cycle evaluation Nurse Care Open Acces J. 2018;5(6):343‒346. 343 ©2018 Sarvestani et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Cost effectiveness of nursing handover: an action research Volume 5 Issue 6 - 2018 Raheleh Sabet Sarvestani, 1 Abdosaleh Jafari, 2 Marzieh Moattari, 3 Alireza Nikbakht Nasrabadi, 4 Marzieh Momennasab, 3 Shahrzad Yektatalab 3 1 Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran 2 Instructor of Health Human Resources Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran 3 Department of Nursing, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran 4 Department of Nursing, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran Correspondence: Raheleh Sabet Sarvestani, PhD of Nursing, Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, Tel 09173122634, Email Received: May 05, 2017 | Published: November 20, 2018 Abstract Objective: This study aimed to improve nursing handover and assessed the cost effectiveness of the intervention. Background: Nursing handover is a substantial part of nurse’s duty that is time consuming and costing, these factors may serve as an incentive to focus attention on a more efficient means of nursing handover in the fiscally challenged world of health care. Method: This study conducted using an action research design during 2012 to 2014 in Iran. We did an economic evaluation from the nursing service perspective. Result: Result showed that Strategies after the intervention compared to pre- intervention strategies reduced costs to $309,641 and increased the amount of effectiveness to 0.45. Conclusion: This study showed that Strategy after the intervention is a dominant strategy compared to before. Also it resulted in deep understanding of participants about principles of handover in real world through action and reflection. Keywords: handover, nursing, cost effectiveness, action research Nursing & Care Open Access Journal Research Article Open Access