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Making good better: implementing a standardized handoff in pediatric transport
Caroline Weingart1, Tracey Herstich, Pam Baker
1Department of Pediatrics, Akron Children's Hospital, Akron, OH 44308, USA.
Air Medical Journal
|January 1, 2013
Summary
Improving patient handoffs in pediatric transport significantly boosted provider satisfaction. A standardized, scripted process incorporating parental input enhanced communication quality and patient safety.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Quality Improvement
- Patient Safety Research
- Communication in Medicine
Background:
- Communication failures, particularly during patient handoffs, are a significant cause of adverse events in healthcare.
- Handoffs involve transferring information, responsibility, and authority between providers, directly impacting patient safety.
- Caregivers expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of information received from the pediatric transport team.
Purpose of the Study:
- To improve the quality of patient handoffs from the pediatric transport team.
- To enhance provider satisfaction with the information received during patient transfers.
- To implement a standardized and scripted handoff process.
Main Methods:
- A quality improvement team utilized the Model for Improvement framework.
- A standardized, scripted transport handoff process was developed, including parental input.
- Provider satisfaction was measured using the Overall Handoff Score (OHS); Joint Commission guidelines were secondary outcomes.
Main Results:
- Initial implementation showed no significant improvement in OHS (81.5 ± 19.4).
- Subsequent modifications to education and process led to a significant OHS improvement (88.8 ± 11.1, P<0.05).
- Specific handoff components demonstrated the most substantial improvements as reported by caregivers.
Conclusions:
- A practical, low-cost quality improvement project successfully enhanced handoff communication.
- The implemented changes contributed to safer, higher-quality patient care.
- This model can be adopted by other institutions to improve their handoff processes.
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