“There are some common principles in structuring and organizing handoffs,” he explains. Although the approach has delivered impressive results, reducing handoff-related errors by as much as 30%, proponents acknowledge that reaping such gains requires considerable effort and ongoing commitment.Ĭhristopher Landrigan, MD, MPH, the research director of inpatient pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, the principal investigator for numerous I-PASS studies, and a co-founder of the I-PASS Institute, a group formed to help guide institutions interested in implementing the I-PASS approach, explains that while the tool was developed and used in children’s hospitals first, there are themes that carry across all healthcare settings. However, the bundle includes several other elements, too, including a handoff document, training, faculty observations and feedback, faculty development, and an awareness campaign. The moniker “I-PASS” stands for: illness severity, patient summary, action list, situation awareness and contingency planning, and synthesis by receiver. Eisenberg Award, an honor bestowed annually by The Joint Commission to recognize national-level innovation in improving patient safety and quality. In fact, such efforts have been so successful and widespread that the I-PASS Study Group has been awarded this year’s John M. There are numerous tools designed to help providers remember to convey the most important information when transitioning a patient to another provider, but one approach in particular has demonstrated in multiple studies that it can reduce medical errors and preventable adverse events substantially.Ĭalled the I-PASS bundle, the approach originally was devised for use in pediatric hospitals, but it has been adapted and modified since for use in many different types of hospital units, including both pediatric and adult EDs. With an estimated 80% of the most serious medical errors linked to communication failures, handoff processes are a rich target for improvement. Emergency providers interested in adopting I-PASS should consider modifications that take into account the time pressures of the ED as well as workflow, according to users of the approach.
A critical piece of the bundle is workplace-based learning and assessment so that when clinicians use I-PASS, they receive feedback on what they are doing along with constant reinforcement.However, the bundle includes several other elements, such as a handoff document, training, faculty observations and feedback, faculty development, and an awareness campaign. I-PASS stands for: illness severity, patient summary, action list, situation awareness and contingency planning, and synthesis by receiver.The approach has been shown to reduce handoff-related medical errors by as much as 30%, although users note that successful implementation of the approach requires resources and rigorous reinforcement. Now, others are adapting it for use by physicians and nurses in many different hospital units, including the ED. The I-PASS handoff bundle originally was implemented for residents in children’s hospitals.