Optimizing Patient Handoffs

For the past three years, New York Medical College at Westchester Medical Center has been developing handoff best practices, making use of both conventional methods (face-to-face sign-outs where interruptions are minimized and standardized computer sign-out forms), as well as more novel methods such as faculty oversight of house staff sign-out and utilization of a handheld application-the Patient Documentation Transfer System, which generates prioritized patient lists and 'to-do' sets. In addition, a physician events reporting module built into the handoff software encourages house officers to report near miss and adverse events while on call to permit rapid systems changes.