Standardized post-anesthesia handoff to improve interdepartmental communication

The patient's safety is the priority of every healthcare provider throughout the patient's admission. Throughout any given day, multiple nurses, physicians, and technicians will care for a patient, and this requires the necessary transfers of care that include the exchange of pertinent patient information. If crucial information or orders are not communicated and missed, the resolution could result in avoidable harm to the patient. A critical exchange of information and staff occurs between the intraoperative Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) and the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) Registered Nurses (RN), as the patient is waking up from the procedure and eliminating anesthetic gases and medications while opiates and regional medications are onsetting. During this period, the patient also has an increased need for supplemental oxygen. This quality improvement project attempts to observe if the standardization of handoff between the CRNAs and PACU RNs can improve communication between the two teams and eliminate the gaps in communication to increase preparedness of the PACU RNs, and ultimately decrease mistakes and improve patient safety.

Author dc:creator

• Lao, Jesserie J. (Jesserie Janelle)

Contributors dc:contributor

• Crane, Patrick

• Post anesthesia nursing
• Hospital patients--Care
• Interpersonal communication
• Medical errors--Prevention
• Medical protocols

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

dnp:83
oclc:1570815564
local:R_5YsxanMDei7hJ7t

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:d.lib.msu.edu:dnp_83