Handoff Program Cuts Medical Errors by 40%

A handoff process called I-PASS, developed by Boston Children's Hospital, can reduce medical errors by as much as 40 percent, according to physicians at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Boston. Ten pediatric training programs in North America are testing the model.

The patient safety and medical education initiative standardizes patient handoffs during shift changes, according to the research announcement yesterday. In the I-PASS model, clinicians trained in communication and teamwork skills using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality-developed TeamSTEPPS use a mnemonic device to convene key information...