Daily Dose of Patient Safety #3: Handoffs [HTML]

Good Morning MHS Patient Safety Champions,

You already know handoffs are crucial for continuity of care and preventing patient harm, but how effective are the handoffs in your team?

A handoff is the transfer of information during transitions in care across the continuum. During a handoff you may transfer knowledge or information about the degree of certainty or uncertainty regarding a patient, the patient’s response to treatment, recent changes in condition and circumstances, the plan of care including contingencies. A proper handoff includes the following:

--Transfer of responsibility and accountability: When handing off, it is your responsibility to know that the person who must accept responsibility is aware of assuming responsibility. Similarly, you are accountable until both parties are aware of the transfer of responsibility.

--Clarity of information: When uncertainty exists, it is your responsibility to clear up all ambiguity of responsibility before the transfer is completed.

--Verbal communication of information: You cannot assume that the person obtaining responsibility will read or understand written or nonverbal communications.

--Acknowledgment by receiver: Until it is acknowledged that the handoff is understood and accepted, you cannot relinquish your responsibility.

--Opportunity to review: Handoffs are a good time to review and have a new pair of eyes evaluate the situation for both safety and quality.

Evidence shows that the use of a structured communication tool known as SBAR can improve information exchange among healthcare team members and reduce the rate of adverse events The Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation (SBAR) Toolkit can help your team improve handoffs. You can download a copy today here.

--Are you a patient safety champion? Test your patient safety IQ with our Patient Safety Quiz Challenge on Facebook. Questions will be posted through Friday this week at 11 a.m. EDT here. Be the first to answer the question correctly for a little prize!

--MHS staff, this is a friendly reminder of the DoD PSP webinar today from 2-3 p.m. EDT. See our calendar of events for more information.

--Mark your calendars and head over to Twitter on Friday for a Twitter Chat with the Institute of Healthcare Improvement about building a culture of safety from 12-1 p.m. EDT. Use #PSAW18 to join the conversation.

--Do you work in an MTF? Share with us how you’re celebrating Patient Safety Awareness Week at DHA.patientsafety@mail.mil.

If you have questions, please e-mail us at DHA.patientsafety@mail.mil. 

Thank you,

DoD Patient Safety Program Team