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Safe And Effective Patient Handoffs, Alexis M. Stangle

Honors Capstones

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations reported that poor communication is a contributing factor in more than 60% of all hospital adverse events. Poor communication is found in many different healthcare settings and is especially prominent in-patient hand-offs and settings where fast and effective management is indispensable. It is estimated that roughly 1.6 million handoffs typically occur each year within hospitals. Ineffectiveness of handoffs leads to progressive information degradation and is characterized by omissions and inaccuracies in the information shared among healthcare providers. Consequently, they are recognized as a major contributing factor to sentinel events and medical errors. …