The Power of Prepopulated Handoff Report: Optimizing Nurse-Nurse Communication and Patient Experience

Ineffective communication during nurse-to-nurse handoffs can jeopardize patient safety and continuity of care. The purpose of this pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study was to examine the effect of an electronic health record-prepopulated nurse handoff tool on communication, efficiency, and patient experience. Nurses' perceptions of information completeness, handoff duration, and overall experience were examined, followed by patients' satisfaction with nurse communication obtained from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey. Independent-sample and Welch t tests were used to evaluate changes in information completeness, handoff duration, and overall satisfaction. The results suggested the prepopulation of critical patient data likely reduced omissions and errors, contributing to perceived information completeness. The decrease in handoff time also suggests potential for workflow improvements, efficiency, and increased nurse satisfaction. Nurses reported significant improvements in capturing critical information, information clarity, timely completion, overall satisfaction, and reduced handoff time. Most notably, this intervention led to a substantial 20.10% increase in patient satisfaction with their nurses' ability to "always" explain things clearly, as measured on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems nurse communication domain question. Standardized electronic health record-prepopulated handoff reports hold promise for optimizing nurse handoff communication and efficiency.