An analysis and recommendations for multidisciplinary computerized handoff applications in hospitals

In healthcare, patient handoffs are a common practice that is implemented by most clinicians who carry the responsibility of patient care. Ineffective handoffs have been associated with the occurrence of adverse clinical events. With the inception of the Joint Commissions' National Patient Safety Goal (NSPG) 2E on handoff communication, computerized clinical handoff applications are emerging in hospitals. Computerized clinical handoff applications are intended to assist the clinicians in conducting effective handoffs by providing easy access to accurate clinical information and reducing the burden of handoff report upkeep. The purpose of this paper is to identify various types of computerized clinical handoff tools that are used in hospitals and perform a comparison of application characteristics, review clinical and business advantages and disadvantages in implementing computerized clinical handoff applications, and give recommendations for improvement.