Hand over communication occur frequently at various stages throughout the patient’s stay at hospital and is a fundamental component of patient care. The significance of handover communication came into limelight with the report of Joint Commission International (JCI) in 2005 that as many as 70% of sentinelevents were caused by communication breakdowns with half of those occurring during ahand over process. Presently many hospitals in India have no policies and protocols for the safe and efficient transfer communication during handover among health care workers including nurses. Though standardization of hand over is a complex and difficult task, it hasthe potential to produce great rewards for both patients and nurses. This is especially important in a country like India with the fewest resources and compelling needs,where people cannot afford for quality to fail.To err is human. Errors in health care can and will happen as long as human beings provide health care. Structuring health systems and environments to minimise the human errors in communication requires a strong administrative will and commitment while promoting an organisational culture that put patient safety as the centre of focus. 

Keywords: Handover; Communication; Medical Error; Standardization; Sentinal Event.