EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Research indicates the I-PASS handoff program reduces harm and improves communication among clinicians. The research builds on previous studies showing validity of the program.
- Harmful errors can be reduced by up to 50%.
- The results of the latest study showed the program can work in a variety of healthcare settings.
- The program can take up to three years to implement.
The latest research on a handoff tool developed by the I-PASS Patient Safety Institute in Boston indicates it reduces harm and improves communication between clinicians.1
The I-PASS handoff program is intended to improve patient safety through better communication and preventing medical errors. It is built on the I-PASS mnemonic: Illness severity, Patient information, Action list, Situational awareness and contingency plans, and Synthesis by receiver.2
A multicenter prospective effectiveness implementation study was conducted across 32 community and academic hospitals. Investigators found adverse events decreased by 47% following implementation. Also, I-PASS implementation was associated with the consistent inclusion of the five key handoff data elements in verbal and written handoffs.1
Assessing Wide Dissemination
The findings are especially gratifying because previous studies showing the effectiveness of I-PASS had been conducted at hospitals where the developers of the handoff program worked, so they were quite familiar with the program and enthusiastic about using it, says Christopher P. Landrigan, MD, MPH, study co-author, co-founder of the I-PASS Patient Safety Institute, and chief of General Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“The primary interest was trying to understand if we could successfully adapt this for adult hospitals, for community hospitals, for different types of specialties, and so forth,” Landrigan explains. “If anything, the results were more positive than our original study. One reason was that the evidence base has gradually built around this program, and it has become easier and easier to convince people when we walk into a new hospital that this is a good thing to do. We’re not facing the way that we were back in the early 2010s this core resistance about whether it really makes any difference.”
The original I-PASS study showed adherence rates of 50% at best, Landrigan says, but adherence rates in the new study were about 70%.
I-PASS can save money for the hospital through the reduction of adverse events, improved throughput, and decreased malpractice claims, Landrigan says. Nonetheless, implementing the program is a big lift for any hospital, requiring a high level of support from hospital leadership.
The process typically takes two or three years, which can be daunting to some hospitals. Landrigan believes the effort is worthwhile.
“Across the board, what we’re seeing is that when this program is implemented effectively, we’re seeing reductions in harmful errors to patients in the in the range of 30% to 50%, almost no matter what the setting or the type of hospital or specialty,” he says. “We are really hopeful that this begins to translate into a common language for hospitals to use in all of their communications related all their handoffs between providers.”
REFERENCES
- Starmer AJ, Spector ND, O’Toole JK, et al. Implementation of the I-PASS handoff program in diverse clinical environments: A multicenter prospective effectiveness implementation study. J Hosp Med 2023;18:5-14.
- Starmer AJ, Spector ND, Srivastava R, et al. I-pass, a mnemonic to standardize verbal handoffs. Pediatrics 2012;129:201-4.
SOURCE
- Christopher P. Landrigan, MD, MPH, Co-Founder, I-PASS Patient Safety Institute, Chief of General Pediatrics, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston. Email: [email protected].
Research indicates the I-PASS handoff program reduces harm and improves communication among clinicians. The research builds on previous studies showing validity of the program.
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