Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Handoff Thrives on Input

Seamless, effective patient handoffs are a critical piece of any hospital?s patient safety framework; according to the Joint Commission, 43 percent of sentinel events or near misses in 2007 and 2008 were related to communication. But getting all employees to use the same handoff procedure can be a challenge says Ajay Kumar, MD, a hospitalist at the Cleveland (Ohio) Clinic. Until recently, clinicians used several different systems to register handoffs. Kumar and other handoff team members subsequently developed a patient handoff form that can now be accessed from the hospital?s intranet page. The system went live in 2009; by April 2010, more than 300 employees were using the system daily. Kumar credits the success of the project to extensive outreach with medical residents, physicians and nurses, all of whom were consulted before the tool was developed. ?We spent a lot of time with the front line,? Kumar said. For more information, contact Ajay Kumar at kumara@ccf.org.