Hand-Off Communication in a Cardiac Surgical Unit: A Nursing Driven Process

The Joint Commission (2007) asserts differences among hand-off communication styles disrupts continuity of care, impedes treatment, and may cause direct harm to the patient. Nurses working in the intensive care unit (ICU) can receive patient information from a variety of sources. Lack of a standardized communication tool provides many opportunities for the miscommunication of patient information. II. Evidence: Patient and family members verbalized the need for improved communication among caregivers. Results of a preliminary questionnaire showed that 63 % of the nurses surveyed felt an improvement in hand-off communication was warranted. In addition, 62 % of respondents stated they seek information from additional sources following shift to shift report. III. Strategy: A literature search was done to explore hand-off communication models. The SHARE communication framework was chosen and is currently being supported hospital wide. Rapid cycles for improvement were used to adapt the model to the unit-specific patien