Measurement of Information Transfer During Simulated Sequential Complete Shift-to-Shift Intraoperative Handoffs.

Area of Science:

• Anesthesiology
• Medical Education
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Effective communication during intraoperative anesthesia handoffs is critical for patient safety.
• Information transfer during shift-to-shift handoffs can be prone to degradation.
• Simulation-based training offers a controlled environment to study handoff processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify information transfer during simulated intraoperative anesthesia handoffs.
• To evaluate the impact of an electronic handoff tool on information retention and degradation.
• To assess the effect of the tool on handoff efficiency and clarity.

Main Methods:

• Anesthesiology residents and faculty participated in simulated handoffs using a standardized clinical scenario.
• Handoffs were conducted from memory (control) or with an electronic medical record-generated tool (intervention).
• Information retention, handoff time, and clarifications were measured for up to 4 sequential handoffs per chain.

Main Results:

• Mean information retention score was 31/50, declining by 4 points per handoff.
• The electronic handoff tool improved retention by nearly 7 points (P=.002) but did not alter degradation rate (P=.38).
• The tool group maintained handoff time, while the control group saw a 2-minute decline per handoff and required more clarifications.

Conclusions:

• Clinical anesthesia handoffs are associated with significant information degradation.
• An electronic handoff tool partially mitigates information loss and prevents extreme degradation.
• While improving retention, the tool does not eliminate the natural degradation process over multiple handoffs.