Teaching Video: “Handoffs: A Typical Day on the Wards”

Abstract

Abstract Numerous studies have shown the vulnerability of care transitions in hospital care. This teaching video represents a worst-case communication failure scenario based on a string of common, yet avoidable, pitfalls in patient handoffs as documented in our body of research. This resource has been utilized to instruct undergraduate and graduate medical education trainees on the barriers to effective care transitions. This workshop can be offered either within a cultural competency curriculum or a quality and safety curriculum. This case exposes trainees to the many sources that contribute to communication failure. In this 20-minute workshop, learners work to define the contributors to and consequences of communication failure by watching a 4-minute video depicting a handoff, before entering a 10- to 12-minute debriefing. The overall objective of this session is to emphasize effective provider behaviors to prevent threats to patient safety during transitions of care. When used in conjunction with the accompanying checklists and educational resources, this session provides residency program directors with a viable and interactive option for fulfilling the 2010 ACGME mandates which require residency programs to ensure resident competency in handoff communication.

Keywords

• Handoffs