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Patient handoffs: Delivering content efficiently and effectively is not enough.
John T Berger1, May-Britt Sten, David C Stockwell
1Department of Critical Care Medicine, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA.
The International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine
|November 9, 2012
Summary
Patient handoffs are critical for safe care transitions. A dual-responsibility approach, involving both sending and receiving providers using tools like the I-5 Tool, significantly improves handoff quality and reliability.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare quality improvement
- Patient safety
- Clinical communication
Background:
- Patient handoffs between providers are prone to failure, with potentially severe consequences.
- Existing solutions often focus solely on the sending provider's tools.
- High-quality care transfer requires shared responsibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel, dual-responsibility approach to patient handoffs.
- To report early findings from pilot projects evaluating this new model.
Main Methods:
- Handoffs involve both off-going (sending) and oncoming (receiving) providers.
- The off-going provider uses a structured format for information assimilation.
- A structured handoff receiver tool was developed and utilized to ensure the oncoming provider's comprehension.
Main Results:
- Clinicians reported improved handoff quality with the dual-responsibility model.
- The I-5 Tool demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing patient transfer of care.
- Early data suggest the intervention prevented potential care failures.
Conclusions:
- The dual-responsibility handoff model, incorporating a receiver tool, leads to more successful and reliable patient transfers.
- Pilot testing indicates a positive impact on the quality and safety of care transitions.
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