2. Definition
• Nursing hand-off can be defined as a
communication between two shifts of
nurses occurring at the transfer of
responsibility for a patient to include an
opportunity to ask questions, clarify and
confirm (Friesen, 2009)
4. Why is it needed?
• Hand-off communication is critical for
patient safety as missed information
could be harmful to the patient
• A study in Seattle concluded that up to 65% of
sentinel events could be linked to poor
communication between healthcare personnel
5. Elements of a Hand-off
•Patient name, age , sex
•Diagnosis
•Medications
•Most recent VS
•Critical labs
•Changes in health
status/condition
6. Standardization
• A lack of standardization among
the different types of hand-offs
can potentially cause problems
• The same form can also cut down
wasted time in attempting to
track down missing information
7. Summary
• Effective hand-off communication can
significantly reduce potential errors in patient
care
• Hand-offs are done to communicate patient
information across shifts and to help maintain
a high quality of care
• Facility wide standardization would help
reduce redundancy and improve
communication
Catalano (2009) also mentions that this transfers authority as well for patient treatment Also known as “report” or shift report
The study was done at two children’s hospitals in the Seattle, WA areaTime constraints, stress, and miscommunication can all contribute to errors in handoffLarge of amounts of turbulence (discharges, admissions, pt movement) can also contribute to miscommunications or lost information
- Each hospital unit/ward has it's own variation of a hand-off/communication sheet/report sheet