Handoff communications: a systems approach
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Pennsylvania patient safety advisory
- Author(s):
- Gardner, Lea Anne, author
- Contributor(s):
- Pennsylvania. Patient Safety Authority, issuing body. ECRI (Organization), issuing body. Institute for Safe Medication Practices, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Harrisburg, Pennsylvania] : Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, March 2017
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Communication Patient Handoff -- organization & administration Systems Analysis Medical Errors -- prevention & control Patient Safety Patient Transfer Risk Management Humans Pennsylvania United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Handoffs are an integral part of care coordination and the delivery of safe patient care. Effective handoffs have multiple functions: transferring responsibility and accountability for the patient's care and confirming the accuracy of information from one healthcare worker to another and providing opportunities to catch and correct errors. In Pennsylvania, facilities reported 1,565 handoff-related events through the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS) that occurred in 2014 and 2015. About 60% of the handoff reports indicated discrepancies between information shared and the patient's condition noted during or after a handoff with no description of a follow up; in 40% of the event reports, a follow up in patient care to address the discrepancy was stated. In addition, about 20% of the event reports stated that there was no handoff given and in another 16% of the event reports, details about the patient's condition were omitted from the handoff. Using handoff processes that incorporate critical thinking and reasoning skills to address patient needs, addressing environmental distractions and communication deficits, and providing handoff training and education are strategies to improve patient handoff communications.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (pages 17-26))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101704105 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101704105