NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN); Ernstmeyer K, Christman E, editors. Nursing Management and Professional Concepts [Internet]. Eau Claire (WI): Chippewa Valley Technical College; 2022.
• Collaborate with interprofessional team members when providing client care
• Manage conflict among clients and health care staff
• Perform procedures necessary to safely admit, transfer, and/or discharge a client
• Assess the need for referrals and obtain necessary orders
• Describe how the health care team meets the needs of diverse patients in a variety of settings
• Identify strategies to ensure productive, effective team functioning
All health care students must prepare to deliberately work together in clinical practice with a common goal of building a safer, more effective, patient-centered health care system. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines interprofessional collaborative practice as multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds working together with patients, families, caregivers, and communities to deliver the highest quality of care.[1]
Effective teamwork and communication have been proven to reduce medical errors, promote a safety culture, and improve patient outcomes.[2] The importance of effective interprofessional collaboration has become even more important as nurses advocate to reduce health disparities related to social determinants of health (SDOH). In these efforts, nurses work with people from a variety of professions, such as physicians, social workers, educators, policy makers, attorneys, faith leaders, government employees, community advocates, and community members. Nursing students must be prepared to effectively collaborate interprofessionally after graduation.[3]
The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) has identified four core competencies for effective interprofessional collaborative practice. This chapter will review content related to these four core competencies and provide examples of how they relate to nursing.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). The future of nursing 2020-2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. The National Academies Press. 10.17226/25982 ↵ 10.17226/25982. [PubMed : 34524769 ] [CrossRef] [CrossRef]
• Collaborate with interprofessional team members when providing client care
• Manage conflict among clients and health care staff
• Perform procedures necessary to safely admit, transfer, and/or discharge a client
• Assess the need for referrals and obtain necessary orders
• Describe how the health care team meets the needs of diverse patients in a variety of settings
• Identify strategies to ensure productive, effective team functioning
All health care students must prepare to deliberately work together in clinical practice with a common goal of building a safer, more effective, patient-centered health care system. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines interprofessional collaborative practice as multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds working together with patients, families, caregivers, and communities to deliver the highest quality of care.[1]
Effective teamwork and communication have been proven to reduce medical errors, promote a safety culture, and improve patient outcomes.[2] The importance of effective interprofessional collaboration has become even more important as nurses advocate to reduce health disparities related to social determinants of health (SDOH). In these efforts, nurses work with people from a variety of professions, such as physicians, social workers, educators, policy makers, attorneys, faith leaders, government employees, community advocates, and community members. Nursing students must be prepared to effectively collaborate interprofessionally after graduation.[3]
The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) has identified four core competencies for effective interprofessional collaborative practice. This chapter will review content related to these four core competencies and provide examples of how they relate to nursing.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). The future of nursing 2020-2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. The National Academies Press. 10.17226/25982 ↵ 10.17226/25982. [PubMed : 34524769 ] [CrossRef] [CrossRef]
The first IPEC competency is related to values and ethics and states, “Work with individuals of other professions to maintain a climate of mutual respect and shared values.”[1] See the box below for the components related to this competency. Notice how these interprofessional competencies are very similar to the Standards of Professional Performance established by the American Nurses Association related to Ethics, Advocacy, Respectful and Equitable Practice, Communication, and Collaboration.[2]
Components of IPEC’s Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice Competency[3]
Place interests of clients and populations at the center of interprofessional health care delivery and population health programs and policies, with the goal of promoting health and health equity across the life span.
Respect the dignity and privacy of patients while maintaining confidentiality in the delivery of team-based care.
Embrace the cultural diversity and individual differences that characterize patients, populations, and the health team.
Respect the unique cultures, values, roles/responsibilities, and expertise of other health professions and the impact these factors can have on health outcomes.
Work in cooperation with those who receive care, those who provide care, and others who contribute to or support the delivery of prevention and health services and programs.
Develop a trusting relationship with patients, families, and other team members.Demonstrate high standards of ethical conduct and quality of care in contributions to team-based care.
Manage ethical dilemmas specific to interprofessional patient/population-centered care situations.Act with honesty and integrity in relationships with patients, families, communities, and other team members.
Maintain competence in one’s own profession appropriate to scope of practice.Nursing, medical, and other health professional programs typically educate students in “silos” with few opportunities to collaboratively work together in the classroom or in clinical settings. However, after being hired for their first job, these graduates are thrown into complex clinical situations and expected to function as part of the team. One of the first steps in learning how to function as part of an effective interprofessional team is to value each health care professional’s contribution to quality, patient-centered care. Mutual respect and trust are foundational to effective interprofessional working relationships for collaborative care delivery across the health professions. Collaborative care also honors the diversity reflected in the individual expertise each profession brings to care delivery.[4]
Cultural diversity is a term used to describe cultural differences among clients, family members, and health care team members. While it is useful to be aware of specific traits of a culture, it is just as important to understand that each individual is unique, and there are always variations in beliefs among individuals within a culture. Nurses should, therefore, refrain from making assumptions about the values and beliefs of members of specific cultural groups.[5] Instead, a better approach is recognizing that culture is not a static, uniform characteristic but instead realizing there is diversity within every culture and in every person. The American Nurses Association (ANA) defines cultural humility as, “A humble and respectful attitude toward individuals of other cultures that pushes one to challenge their own cultural biases, realize they cannot possibly know everything about other cultures, and approach learning about other cultures as a lifelong goal and process.”[6] It is imperative for nurses to integrate culturally responsive care into their nursing practice and interprofessional collaborative practice.
Read more about cultural diversity, cultural humility, and integrating culturally responsive care in the “Diverse Patients” chapter of Open RN Nursing Fundamentals.
Nurses value the expertise of interprofessional team members and integrate this expertise when providing patient-centered care. Some examples of valuing and integrating the expertise of interprofessional team members include the following:
A nurse is caring for a patient admitted with chronic heart failure to a medical-surgical unit. During the shift the patient’s breathing becomes more labored and the patient states, “My breathing feels worse today.” The nurse ensures the patient’s head of bed is elevated, oxygen is applied according to the provider orders, and the appropriate scheduled and PRN medications are administered, but the patient continues to complain of dyspnea. The nurse calls the respiratory therapist and requests a STAT consult. The respiratory therapist assesses the patient and recommends implementation of BiPAP therapy. The provider is notified and an order for BiPAP is received. The patient reports later in the shift the dyspnea is resolved with the BiPAP therapy.
A nurse is working in the Emergency Department when an adolescent patient arrives via ambulance experiencing a severe asthma attack. The paramedic provides a handoff report with the patient’s current vital signs, medications administered, and intravenous (IV) access established. The paramedic also provides information about the home environment, including information about vaping products and a cat in the adolescent’s bedroom. The nurse thanks the paramedic for sharing these observations and plans to use information about the home environment to provide patient education about asthma triggers and tobacco cessation after the patient has been stabilized.
A nurse is working in a long-term care environment with several assistive personnel (AP) who work closely with the residents providing personal cares and have excellent knowledge regarding their baseline status. Today, after helping Mrs. Smith with her morning bath, one of the APs tells the nurse, “Mrs. Smith doesn’t seem like herself today. She was very tired and kept falling asleep while I was talking to her, which is not her normal behavior.” The nurse immediately assesses Mrs. Smith and confirms her somnolescence and confirms her vital signs are within her normal range. The nurse reviews Mrs. Smith’s chart and notices that a new prescription for furosemide was started last month but no potassium supplements were ordered. The nurse notifies the provider of the patient’s change in status and receives an order for lab work including an electrolyte panel. The results indicate that Mrs. Smith’s potassium level has dropped to an abnormal level, which is the likely cause of her fatigue and somnolescence. The provider is notified, and an order is received for a potassium supplement. The nurse thanks the AP for recognizing and reporting Mrs. Smith’s change in status and successfully preventing a poor patient outcome such as a life-threatening cardiac dysrhythmia.
Effective patient-centered, interprofessional collaborative practice improves patient outcomes. View supplementary material and reflective questions in the following box.[7]
View the “How does interprofessional collaboration impact care: The patient’s perspective?” video on YouTube regarding patients’ perspectives about the importance of interprofessional collaboration.
Read Ten Lessons in Collaboration. Although this is an older publication, it provides ten lessons to consider in collaborative relationships and practice. The discussion reflects many components of collaboration that have been integral to nursing practice in interprofessional teamwork and leadership.
1. What is the difference between patient-centered care and disease-centered care?
2. Why is it important for health professionals to collaborate?
American Nurses Association. (2021). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (4th ed.). American Nurses Association. ↵.
Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel. (2011). Core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice: Report on an expert panel. Interprofessional Education Collaborative. https://ipec .memberclicks .net/assets/2011-Original.pdf ↵.
Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel. (2011). Core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice: Report on an expert panel. Interprofessional Education Collaborative. https://ipec .memberclicks .net/assets/2011-Original.pdf ↵.
American Nurses Association. (2021). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (4th ed.). American Nurses Association. ↵.
Leadership and Influencing Change in Nursing by Joan Wagner is licensed under CC BY 4.0 ↵.The second IPEC competency relates to the roles and responsibilities of health care professionals and states, “Use the knowledge of one’s own role and those of other professions to appropriately assess and address the health care needs of patients and to promote and advance the health of populations.”[1]
See the following box for the components of this competency. It is important to understand the roles and responsibilities of the other health care team members; recognize one’s limitations in skills, knowledge, and abilities; and ask for assistance when needed to provide quality, patient-centered care.
Components of IPEC’s Roles/Responsibilities Competency[2]
Communicate one’s roles and responsibilities clearly to patients, families, community members, and other professionals.
Recognize one’s limitations in skills, knowledge, and abilities.Engage with diverse professionals who complement one’s own professional expertise, as well as associated resources, to develop strategies to meet specific health and health care needs of patients and populations.
Explain the roles and responsibilities of other providers and the manner in which the team works together to provide care, promote health, and prevent disease.
Use the full scope of knowledge, skills, and abilities of professionals from health and other fields to provide care that is safe, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable.
Communicate with team members to clarify each member’s responsibility in executing components of a treatment plan or public health intervention.
Forge interdependent relationships with other professions within and outside of the health system to improve care and advance learning.
Engage in continuous professional and interprofessional development to enhance team performance and collaboration.
Use unique and complementary abilities of all members of the team to optimize health and patient care.
Describe how professionals in health and other fields can collaborate and integrate clinical care and public health interventions to optimize population health.
Nurses communicate with several individuals during a typical shift. For example, during inpatient care, nurses may communicate with patients and their family members; pharmacists and pharmacy technicians; providers from different specialties; physical, speech, and occupational therapists; dietary aides; respiratory therapists; chaplains; social workers; case managers; nursing supervisors, charge nurses, and other staff nurses; assistive personnel; nursing students; nursing instructors; security guards; laboratory personnel; radiology and ultrasound technicians; and surgical team members. Providing holistic, quality, safe, and effective care means every team member taking care of patients must work collaboratively and understand the knowledge, skills, and scope of practice of the other team members. Table 7.4 provides examples of the roles and responsibilities of common health care team members that nurses frequently work with when providing patient care. To fully understand the roles and responsibilities of the multiple members of the complex health care delivery system, it is beneficial to spend time shadowing those within these roles.
Roles and Responsibilities of Members of the Health Care Team
| Member | Role/Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Assistive Personnel (e.g., certified nursing assistants [CNA], patient-care technicians [PCT], certified medical assistants [CMA], certified medication aides, and home health aides) | Work under the direct supervision of the RN. (Read more about Assistive Personnel (AP) in the “Delegation and Supervision” chapter.) |
| Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses (LPN/VN) | Assist the RN by performing routine, basic nursing care with predictable outcomes. (Read more details in the “Delegation and Supervision” chapter.) |
| Registered Nurses (RN) | Use the nursing process to assess, diagnose, identify expected outcomes, plan and implement interventions, and evaluate care according to the Nurse Practice Act of the state they are employed. |
| Charge Nurses or Nursing Supervisors | Supervise members of the nursing team and overall patient care on the unit (or organization) to ensure quality, safe care is delivered. |
| Directors of Nursing (DON), Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), or Vice President of Patient Services | Ensure federal and state regulations and standards are being followed and are accountable for all aspects of patient care. |
| Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) | Practice in a variety of health care environments and participate in mentoring other nurses, case management, research, designing and conducting quality improvement programs, and serving as educators and consultants. |
| Nurse Practitioners (NP) or Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) | Work in a variety of settings and complete physical examinations, diagnose and treat common acute illness, manage chronic illness, order laboratory and diagnostic tests, prescribe medications and other therapies, provide health teaching and supportive counseling with an emphasis on prevention of illness and health maintenance, and refer clients to other health professionals and specialists as needed. NPs have advanced knowledge with a graduate degree and national certification. |
| Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) | Administer anesthesia and related care before, during, and after surgical, therapeutic, diagnostic, and obstetrical procedures, as well as provide airway management during medical emergencies. |
| Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM) | Provide gynecological exams, family planning guidance, prenatal care, management of low-risk labor and delivery, and neonatal care. |
| Medical Doctors (MD) | Licensed providers who diagnose, treat, and direct medical care. There are many types of physician specialists such as surgeons, pulmonologists, neurologists, cardiologists, nephrologists, pediatricians, and ophthalmologists. |
| Physician Assistants (PA) | Work under the direct supervision of a medical doctor as licensed and certified professionals following protocols based on the state in which they practice. |
| Doctors of Osteopathy (DO) | Licensed providers similar to medical physicians but with different educational preparation and licensing exams. They provide care, prescribe, and can perform surgeries. |
| Dieticians | Assess, plan, implement, and evaluate interventions related to specific dietary needs of clients, including regular or therapeutic diets. Formulate diets for clients with dysphagia or other physical disorders and provide dietary education such as diabetes education. |
| Physical Therapists (PT) | Develop and implement a plan of care as a licensed professional for clients with dysfunctional physical abilities, including joints, strength, mobility, gait, balance, and coordination. |
| Occupational Therapists (OT) | Plan, provide, and evaluate care for clients with dysfunction affecting their independence and ability to complete activities of daily living (ADLs). Assist clients in using adaptive devices to reach optimal levels of functioning and provide home safety assessments. |
| Speech Therapists (ST) | Develop and initiate a plan of care for clients diagnosed with communication and swallowing disorders. |
| Respiratory Therapists (RT) | Specialize in treating clients with respiratory disorders or conditions in collaboration with providers. Provide treatments such as CPAP, BiPAP, respiratory treatments and medications like aerosol nebulizers, chest physiotherapy, and postural drainage. They also intubate clients, assist with bronchoscopies, manage mechanical ventilation, and perform pulmonary function tests. |
| Social Workers (SW) | Provide a liaison between the community and the health care setting to ensure continuity of care after discharge. Assist clients with establishing community resources, health insurance, and advance directives. |
| Psychologists and Psychiatrists | Provide mental health services to clients in both acute and long-term settings. As physician specialists, psychiatrists prescribe medications and perform other medical treatments for mental health disorders. Psychologists focus on counseling. |
| Nurse Case Managers or Discharge Planners | Ensure clients are provided with effective and efficient medical care and services, during inpatient care and post-discharge, while also managing the cost of these services. |
The coordination and delivery of safe, quality patient care demands reliable teamwork and collaboration across the organizational and community boundaries. Clients often have multiple visits across multiple providers working in different organizations. Communication failures between health care settings, departments, and team members is the leading cause of patient harm.[3] The health care system is becoming increasingly complex requiring collaboration among diverse health care team members.
The goal of good interprofessional collaboration is improved patient outcomes, as well as increased job satisfaction of health care team professionals. Patients receiving care with poor teamwork are almost five times as likely to experience complications or death. Hospitals in which staff report higher levels of teamwork have lower rates of workplace injuries and illness, fewer incidents of workplace harassment and violence, and lower turnover.[4]
Valuing and understanding the roles of team members are important steps toward establishing good interprofessional teamwork. Another step is learning how to effectively communicate with interprofessional team members.
Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. The American Psychologist, 73(4), 433-450. 10.1037/amp0000298 ↵ 10.1037/amp0000298. [PMC free article : PMC6361117 ] [PubMed : 29792459 ] [CrossRef] [CrossRef]
Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. The American Psychologist, 73(4), 433-450. 10.1037/amp0000298 ↵ 10.1037/amp0000298. [PMC free article : PMC6361117 ] [PubMed : 29792459 ] [CrossRef] [CrossRef]
The third IPEC competency focuses on interprofessional communication and states, “Communicate with patients, families, communities, and professionals in health and other fields in a responsive and responsible manner that supports a team approach to the promotion and maintenance of health and the prevention and treatment of disease.”[1] See Figure 7.1[2] for an image of interprofessional communication supporting a team approach. This competency also aligns with The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal for improving staff communication.[3] See the following box for the components associated with the Interprofessional Communication competency.
Image from Nursing Fundamentals
• Choose effective communication tools and techniques, including information systems and communication technologies, to facilitate discussions and interactions that enhance team function.
• Communicate information with patients, families, community members, and health team members in a form that is understandable, avoiding discipline-specific terminology when possible.
• Express one’s knowledge and opinions to team members involved in patient care and population health improvement with confidence, clarity, and respect, working to ensure common understanding of information, treatment, care decisions, and population health programs and policies.
• Listen actively and encourage ideas and opinions of other team members.
• Give timely, sensitive, constructive feedback to others about their performance on the team, responding respectfully as a team member to feedback from others.
• Use respectful language appropriate for a given difficult situation, crucial conversation, or conflict.
• Recognize how one’s uniqueness (experience level, expertise, culture, power, and hierarchy within the health care team) contributes to effective communication, conflict resolution, and positive interprofessional working relationships.
• Communicate the importance of teamwork in patient-centered care and population health programs and policies.
Transmission of information among members of the health care team and facilities is ongoing and critical to quality care. However, information that is delayed, inefficient, or inadequate creates barriers for providing quality of care. Communication barriers continue to exist in health care environments due to interprofessional team members’ lack of experience when interacting with other disciplines. For instance, many novice nurses enter the workforce without experiencing communication with other members of the health care team (e.g., providers, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, social workers, surgical staff, dieticians, physical therapists, etc.). Additionally, health care professionals tend to develop a professional identity based on their educational program with a distinction made between groups. This distinction can cause tension between professional groups due to diverse training and perspectives on providing quality patient care. In addition, a health care organization’s environment may not be conducive to effectively sharing information with multiple staff members across multiple units.
In addition to potential educational, psychological, and organizational barriers to sharing information, there can also be general barriers that impact interprofessional communication and collaboration. See the following box for a list of these general barriers.[5]
• Personal values and expectations
• Lack of cultural humility
• Historical interprofessional and intraprofessional rivalries
• Differences in language and medical jargon
• Differences in schedules and professional routines
• Varying levels of preparation, qualifications, and status
• Differences in requirements, regulations, and norms of professional education
• Fears of diluted professional identity
• Differences in accountability and reimbursement models
• Diverse clinical responsibilities
• Increased complexity of patient care
• Emphasis on rapid decision-making
There are several national initiatives that have been developed to overcome barriers to communication among interprofessional team members. These initiatives are summarized in Table 7.5a.[7]
Initiatives to Overcome Barriers to Interprofessional Communication and Collaboration[8]
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Teach structured interprofessional communication strategies | Structured communication strategies, such as ISBARR, handoff reports, I-PASS reports, and closed-loop communication should be taught to all health professionals. |
| Train interprofessional teams together | Teams that work together should train together. |
| Train teams using simulation | Simulation creates a safe environment to practice communication strategies and increase interdisciplinary understanding. |
| Define cohesive interprofessional teams | Interprofessional health care teams should be defined within organizations as a cohesive whole with common goals and not just a collection of disciplines. |
| Create democratic teams | All members of the health care team should feel valued. Creating democratic teams (instead of establishing hierarchies) encourages open team communication. |
| Support teamwork with protocols and procedures | Protocols and procedures encouraging information sharing across the whole team include checklists, briefings, huddles, and debriefing. Technology and informatics should also be used to promote information sharing among team members. |
| Develop an organizational culture supporting health care teams | Agency leaders must establish a safety culture and emphasize the importance of effective interprofessional collaboration for achieving good patient outcomes. |
Several communication strategies have been implemented nationally to ensure information is exchanged among health care team members in a structured, concise, and accurate manner to promote safe patient care. Examples of these initiatives are ISBARR, handoff reports, closed-loop communication, and I-PASS. Documentation that promotes sharing information interprofessionally to promote continuity of care is also essential. These strategies are discussed in the following subsections.
A common format used by health care team members to exchange client information is ISBARR, a mnemonic for the components of Introduction, Situation, Background, Assessment, Request/Recommendations, and Repeat back.[9],[10]
Introduction: Introduce your name, role, and the agency from which you are calling.Situation: Provide the client’s name and location, the reason you are calling, recent vital signs, and the status of the client.
Background: Provide pertinent background information about the client such as admitting medical diagnoses, code status, recent relevant lab or diagnostic results, and allergies.
Assessment: Share abnormal assessment findings and your evaluation of the current client situation.Request/Recommendations: State what you would like the provider to do, such as reassess the client, order a lab/diagnostic test, prescribe/change medication, etc.
Repeat back: If you are receiving new orders from a provider, repeat them to confirm accuracy. Be sure to document communication with the provider in the client’s chart.
Before using ISBARR to call a provider regarding a changing client condition or concern, it is important for nurses to prepare and gather appropriate information. See the following box for considerations when calling the provider.
• Have I assessed this client before I call?
• Have I reviewed the current orders?
• Are there related standing orders or protocols?
• Have I read the most recent provider and nursing progress notes?
• Have I discussed concerns with my charge nurse, if necessary?
• When ready to call, have the following information on hand:
o Admitting diagnosis and date of admission
o Most recent vital signs
o Most recent lab results
o Current meds and IV fluids
o If receiving oxygen therapy, current device and L/min
• Before calling, reflect on what you expect to happen as a result of this call and if you have any recommendations or specific requests.
• Repeat back any new orders to confirm them.
• Immediately after the call, document with whom you spoke, the exact time of the call, and a summary of the information shared and received.
Read an example of an ISBARR report in the following box.
I: “Hello Dr. Smith, this is Jane Smith, RN from the Med-Surg unit.”
S: “I am calling to tell you about Ms. White in Room 210, who is experiencing an increase in pain, as well as redness at her incision site. Her recent vital signs were BP 160/95, heart rate 90, respiratory rate 22, O2 sat 96% on room air, and temperature 38 degrees Celsius. She is stable but her pain is worsening.”
B: “Ms. White is a 65-year-old female, admitted yesterday post hip surgical replacement. She has been rating her pain at 3 or 4 out of 10 since surgery with her scheduled medication, but now she is rating the pain as a 7, with no relief from her scheduled medication of Vicodin 5/325 mg administered an hour ago. She is scheduled for physical therapy later this morning and is stating she won’t be able to participate because of the pain this morning.”
A: “I just assessed the surgical site and her dressing was clean, dry, and intact, but there is 4 cm redness surrounding the incision, and it is warm and tender to the touch. There is moderate serosanguinous drainage. Her lungs are clear and her heart rate is regular. She has no allergies. I think she has developed a wound infection.”
R: “I am calling to request an order for a CBC and increased dose of pain medication.”
R: “I am repeating back the order to confirm that you are ordering a STAT CBC and an increase of her Vicodin to 10/325 mg.”
Handoff reports are defined by The Joint Commission as “a transfer and acceptance of patient care responsibility achieved through effective communication. It is a real-time process of passing patient specific information from one caregiver to another, or from one team of caregivers to another, for the purpose of ensuring the continuity and safety of the patient’s care.”[12] In 2017 The Joint Commission issued a sentinel alert about inadequate handoff communication that has resulted in patient harm such as wrong-site surgeries, delays in treatment, falls, and medication errors.[13]
The Joint Commission encourages the standardization of critical content to be communicated by interprofessional team members during a handoff report both verbally (preferably face to face) and in written form. Critical content to communicate to the receiver in a handoff report includes the following components[14]:
Sender contact information Illness assessment, including severityPatient summary, including events leading up to illness or admission, hospital course, ongoing assessment, and plan of care
