Improperly handled nursing intershift handoffs can cause medication errors, treatment delays or errors, near-miss events and lab test duplications, according to an article published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.
A case study performed at Lahib Medical Center in Lebanon initiated a quality improvement project targeted at three barriers to nursing intershift handoff, including:
1. The absence of standard intershift communication tools.
2. Inadequate intershift handoff communication training for nurses.
3. Interruptions during shift reports.
The handoff intervention at LMC implemented a standardized communication tool, a handoff education program for nurses and a best practice for decreased handoff interruptions.
After implementing evidence-based strategies to address handoff issues, average omissions for handoff decreased from 4.96 to 2.29, and the average number of interruptions per intershift report decreased from 2.17 to 1.26.
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