Bulletin Column Highlights Efforts to Improve Perioperative Handoffs

Perioperative handoffs are critical transition points for safety and quality of care, and any communication barrier or breakdown has the potential to impact patient outcomes. This exchange is particularly important when the patient is critically ill or returning from major surgery.

A special issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety recently provided original studies and commentaries on perioperative handoffs.

In the October Bulletin, Lenworth M. Jacobs Jr., MD, MPH, FACS, summarized the special issue and highlighted one of the articles that details the creation and implementation of the Handoffs and Transitions in Critical Care (HATRICC), which involves a standardized protocol for handoffs from the operating room to the ICU.

Read more in “Handoff Strategies Should Feature Implementation Science, Contextual Factors.”