Resident work-hour restrictions means more doctors are caring for a single patient.
Information has to be transferred as one doctor leaves for the day to another, the so-called “patient hand-off.”
Numerous studies have indicated that medical errors can arise from communication errors. This MGH-based survey indicates that “problematic hand-offs may be as significant a source of serious patient harm as are medication-related events.”
Problems can include the setting where the information exchange takes place, where it’s “rarely done in a quiet, private setting, and over a third [of respondents] reported frequent interruptions.”
With talk of further increasing the work-hour restrictions, this problem will be magnified as hand-offs become more frequent. Finding ways to standardize the sign-out process and minimize distractions can help reduce the number of errors.
