Background: In the perioperative arena, effective communication between providers during the
patient handoff process is crucial to patient safety. Relaying key patient information, such as
comorbidities, medications, and changes in health status, to other providers and members of the
perioperative team is an integral part of patient care. With such pertinent patient health
information being passed on thoroughly, successive providers can make well-informed decisions
about patient care. Evidenced based research advise that utilizing a standardized handoff tool can
help ensure the safe and meticulous continuity of patient care.
Currently at Bluffton Regional Medical Center (BRMC), there is no standardized method for
communicating patient information between providers, with many relying on memory, this
leaves room for human error during the handoff process. Missing certain crucial patient details
can have detrimental outcomes.
The aim of this DNP project was to implement the use of the PATIENT handoff checklist
in the perioperative setting at BRMC, observe its usefulness in practice and gauge hospital staff
perceptions, satisfaction, and willingness to use it.
Methodology: This project met the criteria for a Quality Improvement (QI) project. A PowerPoint presentation on the purpose of the project and the importance of a handoff checklist was
presented to the participants. The participants consisted of 11 health care providers that included
eight post-operative care unit (PACU) nurses and three certified registered nurse anesthetists
(CRNA). PACU nurses at Bluffton Regional Medical Center (BRMC) were provided copies of
the PATIENT handoff tool to use while receiving report from anesthesia providers over the
course of two weeks. Data was collected via three-point Likert scale perception questionnaires,
and five-point pre- and post-satisfaction questionnaires.
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Findings: results from the project displayed that 63.6% of participants agreed to being
interested in utilizing a standardized patient handoff checklist when transferring patient care in
the future, and 81.8% state that there is a benefit in utilizing such a tool. Of all the participants,
81.8% agreed that the PATIENT checklist is effective in organizing pertinent patient
information, and 72.7% participants concurred that the PATIENT checklist lends itself to
memory. Another outcome was that 70% of the PATIENT checklists were utilized postimplementation, compared to barely being used pre-implementation.
Conclusions/ Implications: Analysis of the data collected reflects that health care providers at
BRMC believed that the PATIENT checklist led to improved communication, increased
organization, decreased reliance on fallible memory, and improved patient safety. The facility
has been positively impacted by the project and may be in consideration of adoption.

Creator

• Okechukwu Gubor, RN, BSN, DNP-NAP Student

Palabra Clave

• perioperative

• PATIENT handoff checklist

• patient safety

• communication

• handoff checklist

• standardized handoff tool

• standardized handoff

• handoff

Date created

• June 24, 2021

Rights statement

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/