A new handoff protocol boosted communication while slashing errors among nurses, anesthesiologists and surgeons during the transfer of patients from the operating room (OR) to the PACU.
There was a dramatic decrease in lapses in the surgery and anesthesia reports after the rollout of the new handoff process at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore, a study concluded (J Clin Anesth 2015;27:111-119).
The number of defects per handoff dropped nearly threefold, to 3.68 after the new handoff