By
Angie Esbenshade, RN, MSN, MBA, NE-BC
Posted May 19, 2015
One of my colleagues, Stephanie Baker, wrote a Studer Group insight about the importance of hardwiring bedside shift report. In it, she shares the benefits and impact that handovers can have for patients and caregivers. Effective and safe patient handovers (also called care transitions) are critically important, not only between shifts on the same unit, but also between departments. Emergency Department (ED) to Inpatient (IP) handovers are essentially the same concept as bedside shift report but require some additional training and steps to effectively implement the process.
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Posted April 17, 2015
Being a patient admitted through the Emergency Department can be disorienting. Patients and family members who enter our EDs are typically sick, hurt, and scared. Throw in multiple interactions with a variety of caregivers, and remembering who they have seen, what tests were performed, and so on can be a daunting experience. Patient care handovers can also be risky for staff if treatment plans are not completely communicated or care orders are duplicated or omitted. That’s why proper and complete care transitions, also known as handovers, are so important.
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