Handoffs and Transitions of Care Test

1. Handoffs between healthcare teams create an opportunity to avoid errors and omissions of critical information that may lead to serious patient safety consequences.

2. Electronic medical record captures all relevant information so there is no need for direct interaction and the face-to-face handoff between the Operating Room (OR) Team and the Perianethesia Care Unit (PACU) RN.

3. To save time, handoff report can begin while monitors are being hooked up.

4. It is appropriate for a surgery intern who joined liver resection surgery at skin closure, to give a full surgical report at handoff.

5. If the OR schedule is particularly busy on a given day, the anesthesiology team member can skip the PACU handoff in order to facilitate the start of the next case.

6. Healthcare team members performing handoff do not need to use checklists because they already know their patient’s medical conditions well.

7. Handoff team members include a sending team and a receiving team and each member should introduce themselves prior to handoff.

8. The healthcare team can be placed at risk if patient information at handoff is incomplete.

9. Receiving team confirms accepting patient care only when handoff report is complete.

10. Our patients expect of us to transfer all relevant clinical information on to the next healthcare team in order to maximize their safety throughout hospitalization.

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