Implementing a Standardized Nursing Handoff between the Emergency Department and Inpatient Departments

Abstract

Background It is estimated that 80% of serious medical errors have a component of miscommunication between caregivers when a patient is being transferred. Ineffective handoffs can lead to delays in, or inappropriate treatments, and increased length of stay. Approximately half of hospital staff indicate information related to the patient is lost during handoffs. For a handoff to be successful, the following is needed: (1) standardized content, forms, tools, and methods; (2) the opportunity to ask questions; (3) staff accountability and monitoring; and (4) education and coaching. Additionally, the electronic health record should be used to enhance handoffs between senders and receivers. Local Problem The purpose of this quality improvement project was to implement and evaluate evidence-based patient-centered handoff from the emergency department to inpatient medicine departments within an urban, academic medical facility based in Maryland. Prior to this project, there was not a handoff report which contained all of the critical elements, an easy way for the inpatient nurse to contact the emergency department nurse with questions, and/or the ability to document that handoff was complete. Interventions Lewin’s change theory was used as the framework. The interventions were: (1) create a new report in the electronic health record, which contained all elements noted to be critical content by The Joint Commission, and (2) add a field to the electronic health record which the inpatient nurse completed after the report has been reviewed. The inpatient nurse was able to document ‘Chart reviewed, no questions’, ‘Chart reviewed, questions answered’, or ‘Other’ with the ability to add a comment. Results There was a reduction of handoff related patient safety events from four preimplementation to two post-implementation. Though the theme of all of the events was communication, there was a difference in miscommunication versus lack of communication. The percentage of compliance with the new process was 48.6%. Not all of the responses to the preimplementation and post-implementation survey questions are statistically significant; however, there was a statistically significant difference in ‘I am satisfied with the process for emergency department to inpatient handoff’ on both the inpatient (pre-data (M=2.3, SD=1.1) and post-data (M=3.3, SD=1.3); t=-2.8, p=0.006) and emergency department (pre-data (M=3.3; SD=1) and post-data (M=4.4, SD=0.7); t=-3.9; p=0.0003) surveys. Nurse satisfaction with the handoff process has increased. Conclusions The project decreased patient safety events, and increased overall nurse satisfaction related to handoff from the emergency department to inpatient medicine units. As all transfers from the emergency department to non-intensive care inpatient areas followed the same process pre-implementation, expanding the use of the new process into those areas is recommended. The emergency department to intensive care unit process is currently a verbal handoff with no specific format. In the future, it will be guided by the new electronic health record report. There are opportunities to implement an improved handoff process in other areas of the medical center. Patients are transferred between units, procedural areas, and from one clinician to another frequently. The model used in this project could be the foundation for improvements in those handoffs.