Nursing hand-off communication involves exchanging patient information between shifts to ensure continuity of care. It is defined as communication that allows nurses to transfer responsibility for a patient and includes asking questions to clarify care. Poor hand-off communication has been linked to up to 65% of sentinel events and is critical for patient safety. Elements of an effective hand-off include the patient's name, diagnosis, medications, vital signs, labs, and changes in condition.

1. Nursing Hand-Off Communication
Robert Ross, RN, MSN student
Internet in Education
EME 6053
University of South Florida

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)

3. Definition (cont’d)
 Information
is exchanged about
the patient such as patient
name, IV
drips, meds, treatments, appoint
ments, etc.

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

8. A last note about effective
communication