Nursing Handoff Communication and its Impact in Quality Patient Care

Patient handoff communication can be a lengthy process and sometimes results in inadequate information. Inadequate information can create confusion that can lead to problems with patient safety and patient care. Many of the nurses use different tools to conduct reports in a nursing unit, which sometimes leads to crucial information being overlooked, and additional time spent is added to the report. When patient handoff lacks the essential information needed for patient care, it can lead to delayed care. Ensuring the nurses have proper patient handoff tools will help them feel more prepared to take care of the patients. This project explores the impact of structured and formal reports among nurses on a cardiac floor during handoff communication in improving quality patient care and staff nurse efficiency. There are many evidence and studies that have been done regarding patient handoff tools. Research has been done to look at ways it can be improved and why nurses may lack in this area. Different places have tried new and improved techniques to help with this problem, but they have not always been successful. Future research will need to focus on evaluating the impact of structured report sheet that nurses can utilize which includes all the critical aspects needed to care for the patient in the unit, which will help guide nurses in their clinical practice effectively