Our Path to Maternal/Newborn Care and Safety: Open Communication

Purpose for the program: Ensuring patient safety is essential to accurate exchange of patient information.  The leading cause of sentinel events is due to ineffective communication, including gaps in the hand off transferring process.  The Joint Commission has shown that miscommunication between caregivers may result in less than optimal outcomes.  In the past, standardized forms were used during handoffs for report but they have historically been department specific. This created inconsistency when patients were transferred to different departments within the women’s and children’s service line

Proposed change:

To improve nurse-to nurse communication during the hand off process by creating a standardized hand-off tool that can be used across the women’s and children’s service area. This will assist caregivers to recognize information essential to the care and to ensure safety of the patient. 

Implementation, outcomes and evaluation: By evaluating the necessary medical information when transferring patients between units, information was collected and a handoff tool was developed.  This process was completed by assessing existing hand off forms to extract data that would be pertinent to all departments in the women’s and children’s service line.Several versions were created and trailed before deciding upon the final hand off tool. By implementing this handoff tool, an open line of communication was established when transferring a patient between units. 

Implications for nursing practice: By utilizing this handoff tool correctly, it has enhanced communication between units while improving the efficiency of the hand-off process. It has also assisted in preventing patient care errors by ensuring the safety of our patients.

Keywords: Hand Off Tool / Effective Communication