Background In hospitals, handoffs are episodes in which control of, or responsibility for, a
patient passes from one health professional to another, and in which important information …

Purpose Effective communication is central to patient safety. There is abundant evidence of
negative consequences of poor communication and inadequate handoffs. The purpose of …

BACKGROUND: Communication breakdowns are a common threat to surgical safety, but
there are little data to guide initiatives to improve communication. STUDY DESIGN: In …

Background In case reports, transfers in the care of patients among health care providers
have been linked to adverse events. However, little is known about the nature and frequency …

Patient handoffs at shift change are a ubiquitous and potentially hazardous process in
emergency care. As crowding and lengthy evaluations become the standard for an …

BACKGROUND: Handoffs are ubiquitous to Hospital Medicine and are considered a
vulnerable time for patient safety. PURPOSE: To develop recommendations for hospitalist …

BACKGROUND Restrictions in the hours residents can be on duty have resulted in
increased sign‐outs, that is, transfer of patient care information and responsibility from one …

BACKGROUND: Adoption of limits on resident work hours prompted us to develop a
centralized, Web-based computerized rounding and sign-out system (UWCores) that …

Background The transfer of essential information and the responsibility for care of the patient
from one health care provider to another is an integral component of communication in …

Background: During sign-out (handover of care), information and responsibility about
patients is transferred from one set of caregivers to another. Few residency training …