Dataset Information

ICU Attending Handoff Practices: Results From a National Survey of Academic Intensivists.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To characterize intensivist handoff practices and expectations and to explore perceptions of the patient safety implications of attending handoffs.

Design

Cross-sectional electronic survey administered in 2014.

Setting

One hundred sixty-nine U.S. hospitals with critical care training programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Subjects

Academic intensivists were recruited via e-mail invitation from a database of 1,712 eligible academic intensivists.

Interventions

None.

Measurements and main results

Six hundred sixty-one intensivists completed the survey (completion rate, 38.6%). Responses were received from at least one individual at 147 of 169 unique hospitals (87.0%) represented in the study database. Five hundred seventy-three (87%) respondents reported participating in handoffs at the end of each ICU rotation. A variety of communication methods were used for end-of-rotation handoffs, including in-person discussion (92.9%), telephone calls (83.9%), e-mail messages (69.0%), computer-generated documents (64.6%), and text messages (23.6%). Mean satisfaction with current handoff process was rated as 68.4 on a scale from 0 to 100 (SD, 22.6). Respondents (55.4%) said that attending handoffs should be standardized, but only 13.3% (76/572) of those participating in end-of-rotation handoffs reported using a standardized process. Specific handoff topics, including active clinical issues and resuscitation status, were reportedly discussed less frequently than would be ideal (p < 0.001 for the difference between reported frequency and ideal frequency). In free-text comments, 76 respondents (11.5%) expressed skepticism that attending handoffs were necessary given the presence of residents and fellows and given a lack of agreement about necessary content. Two hundred respondents (30.8%) reported knowing of an adverse event (inappropriate treatment, cardiac arrest, and death) attributable to inadequate attending handoffs.

Conclusions

ICU attending handoffs in the United States exhibit marked heterogeneity, and intensivists do not agree about the value of attending handoffs. In addition, some intensivists perceive a link between suboptimal attending handoffs, inappropriate treatment, and serious adverse events that warrants further study.

SUBMITTER: Lane-Fall MB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4792768 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

ICU Attending Handoff Practices: Results From a National Survey of Academic Intensivists.

Lane-Fall Meghan B MB Collard Meredith L ML Turnbull Alison E AE Halpern Scott D SD Shea Judy A JA

Critical care medicine 20160401 4

<h4>Objectives</h4>To characterize intensivist handoff practices and expectations and to explore perceptions of the patient safety implications of attending handoffs.<h4>Design</h4>Cross-sectional electronic survey administered in 2014.<h4>Setting</h4>One hundred sixty-nine U.S. hospitals with critical care training programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.<h4>Subjects</h4>Academic intensivists were recruited via e-mail invitation from a database of 1,712 e ...[more]

PMID: 26588827

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Dataset Information

ICU Attending Handoff Practices: Results From a National Survey of Academic Intensivists.

Objectives

Design

Setting

Subjects

Interventions

Measurements and main results

Conclusions

Publications

ICU Attending Handoff Practices: Results From a National Survey of Academic Intensivists.

Similar Datasets

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