Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have developed a specialized set of protocols they say will improve patient handoffs and reduce the risk of adverse events.
Using a number of bundled interventions, including team-based training and printed handoff instruction sheets, the initiative led to a 40% drop in medical errors during a three-month pilot study, the hospital said in a news release. The program is now being rolled out in 10 pediatric training programs.
The initiative's name, I-PASS, is a mnemonic that stands for "illness severity," "patient summary," "action list for the next team," "situation awareness and contingency plans" and "synthesis and read-back of the information"—all elements that should be included in a successful clinician-to-clinician handoff, the researchers say.