As health care has evolved and become more specialized, with greater numbers of clinicians involved
in patient care, patients are likely to encounter more handoffs than in the simpler and less
complex health care delivery system of a few generations ago.11 Ineffective handoffs can
contribute to gaps inJ!atient care and breaches (i.e., failures) in atient safety, including
medication errors/ 9
wrong-site surgery,9 and patient deaths.4
Clinical environments are
dynamic and complex, presenting manz: challenges for effective communication among health
27
care providers, patients, and families.2 -
Some nursing units may "transfer or discharge 40
percent to 70 percent of their patients every day"28 (p. 36), thereby illustrating the frequency of
handoffs encountered daily and the number of possible breaches at each transition point.
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Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses: Vol. 2
Our expanding knowledge base and technological advances in health care spawn additional categories
of health care providers and specialized units designed for specific diseases, procedures, and
phases of illness and/or rehabilitation. This dynamic, ever-increasing specialization, while
undertaken to improve patient outcomes and enhance health care delivery, can contribute to serious
risks in health care delivery and promote fragmentation of care and
problems with handoffs.3 10 29 It is ironic that as health care has become more sophisticated due
• •
to advances in medical technology focused on saving lives and enhancing the uality oflife, the
risks associated with the handoffs have arnered attention in the popular press and reports
from health care organizations and providers. • 4 6• 10 31 35 The hazard that "fumbled
handoffs"7• 10pose
• • -
to patient safety and the delivery of quality health care cannot be ignored. Ineffective handoffs
can lead to a host of patient safety problems; research 1 and development of strategies to reduce
these problems are required.33 34
What contributes to fumbled handoffs? An examination of how communication breakdown occurs among
other disciplines may have implications for nurses. A study of incidents reported by surgeons found
communication breakdowns were a contributing factor in 43 percent of
incidents, and two-thirds of these communication issues were related to handoffissues.36 The use
of sign-out sheets for communication between physicians is a common practice, yet one study found
errors in 67 percent of the sheets.15 The errors included missing allergy and weight, and incorrect
medication information. 15 In another study, focused on near misses and adverse events involving
novice nurses, the nurses identified handoffs as a concern, particularly related to incomplete or
missing information.37
Acute care hospitals have become organizationally complex; this contributes to difficulty
communicating with the appropriate health care provider. Due to the proliferation of specialties
and clinicians providing care to a single patient, nurses and doctors have reported difficulty in
even contacting the correct health care provider.38 One study found that only 23 percent of
physicians could correctly identify the primary nurse responsible for their patient, and only 42
percent of nurses could identify the physician responsible for the patient in their care.39 This
study highlights the potential gaps in communication among health care providers transferring
information about care and treatment.
A handoff is largely dependent on the interpersonal communication skills of the caregivd 3
as well as the knowledge and experience level of the care ver. There is reported variability in
uality,40 lack of structure in how handoffs usually occur, 3 and variances in shift handoffs.22 41
• -
Concem has been raised that the transition of care between providers during handoffs will
continue to be problematic as research indicates that "only 8 percent of medical schools teach how
to hand off patients in formal didactic session"3 (p. I 097), creating a large educational gap in
new professionals and persistence of traditional models. Physicians and nurses communicate
differently. Nurses are focused on the "big picture" with "broad and narrative"44 (p. i86)
descriptions of the situation, whereas physicians are focused on bullets of critical
information.44 A technique that seeks to bridge the gap between the different communicatio