Feedback and Assessment Tools for Handoffs: A Systematic Review.

Background: Resident handoff communication skills are essential components of medical education training. There are no previous systematic reviews of feedback and evaluation tools for physician handoffs.

Objective: We performed a systematic review of articles focused on inpatient handoff feedback or assessment tools.

Shift-to-Shift Handoff Effects on Patient Safety and Outcomes.

Multiple health care organizations have identified handoffs as a source of clinical errors; however, few studies have linked handoff interventions to improved patient outcomes. This systematic review of English-language research articles, published January 2008 to May 2015 and focusing on shift-to-shift handoff interventions and patient outcomes, yielded 10 774 unique articles. Twenty-one articles met inclusion criteria, measuring each of the following: patient falls (n = 7), reportable events (n = 6), length of stay (n = 4), mortality (n = 4), code calls (n = 4), medication errors (n = 4), medical errors (n = 3), procedural complications (n = 2), pressure ulcers (n = 2), weekend discharges (n = 2), and nosocomial infections (n = 2).

Evaluating Outcomes of Electronic Tools Supporting Physician Shift-to-Shift Handoffs: A Systematic Review.

Background: Multiple organizations have recognized that handoffs are prone to errors, and there has been an increase in the use of electronic health records and computerized tools in health care.

Objective: This systematic review evaluates the current evidence on the effectiveness of electronic solutions used to support shift-to-shift handoffs.

Methods: We searched the English-language literature for research studies published between January 1, 2008, and September 19, 2014, using National Library of Medicine PubMed, EBSCO CINAHL, OvidSP All Journals, and ProQuest PsycINFO.