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Aim: the purpose of this study is to investigate interruptions as they occur during the nursing handover in an Italian Intensive Care Unit., Method: prospective observational study carried out in the Lecco hospital's Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Service (formerly A. Manzoni Hospital) from 15th July 2016 to 30th December 2016. To capture and understand the causes and occurences of interruptions, data were collected through participating observa- tion., Results: the mean handover time was 7.31 (standard deviation [SD] ±3.27) min with a range of 3-25 min. A total of 422 nursing handovers and 352 interruptions were collected with a mean of interruptions for handover of 0.83 (standard deviation [SD] =+0.66). The first author of the interruptions was detected to be the nursing department staff. The interruptions were observed indepentenly of the place of handover., Conclusion: Nurses interrupt and allow themselves to be interrupted by collabora- tors, primarily by their nurse collegues and the frequency of interruptions are particu- rarly worrying. After our results, further studies are needed to gather information and data in setting more heterogeneous.