Patient Hand Offs: A Case Study

Patient Hand-Offs in the Health Care Setting
Patient hand offs in the medical field involves the exchange of critical information. It is the transfer of information, knowledge and responsibility for patient care from one healthcare professional to another (Foster-Hunt, Parush, Ellis, Thomas, and Rashotte, 2015). Ineffective hand-offs can result in putting the patient’s safety at risk, wrong treatment, incorrect diagnoses, and other negative outcomes that can negatively affect the patient. The goal of a handoff is to provide timely, accurate information about a patient’s plan of care, treatment, current conditions, and anticipated changes (Taylor, Lillis, LeMone, and Lynn, 2014). In 2006, the Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals required hospitals to implement a standardized approach to hand off communications that includes: the handoff situation, who is involved in
I believe that there should be one process made for a handoff. Because according to an observational study of nursing hand-offs in a pediatric intensive unit, all change of shift hand-offs were not identical in detail or sequence of information (Foster-Hunt et al., 2015). I believe that the structure of a hand off should start with the most important thing that the nurse wants the other health care provider to know. Then they should explain the background of the patient and their medical history and clinical history during that shift. After that, they should explain the different systems in priority. Then the nurse should explain what needs to be done for the patient in the next 12 hours, such as blood work, medication, and upcoming procedures/appointments. Once they have explained that they should let the other provider know the family’s psychological and social aspects. After they have explained that they should repeat exactly what they need the other provider know and ask if they have any