Could better communications improve handoffs and opioid management? This week’s must read articles say “yes!”. ”
Better Hand-Offs
A recent survey of emergency physicians at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha found that better communication could reduce adverse events. Of the physicians polled:
- 29 percent said adverse events were a result of ineffective communication during the handoff process; and
- 78 percent said sequential handoffs negatively impacted patient care.
The Joint Commission estimates that 80 percent of medical errors involve miscommunication between caregivers during the handoff between medical providers.
Could intraoperative handoff checklists prevent medical errors?
Research published in Anesthesia & Analgesia suggests that an electronic checklist may help.
Practice better #hand-off #communications - it could reduce #adverseevents #ptsafety Click To Tweet
Better Opioid Management
The National Pain Report recently interviewed Edward R. Mariano, MD (Chief of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care Service, Associate Chief of Staff for Inpatient Surgical Services, VA Palo Alto Health Care System) on what he is doing at the VA to better manage the use of opioids.
Dr. Marino said that “getting our physicians from anesthesiology, pain medicine, surgery, and primary care together in a room to talk about new ways to coordinate the care of our surgical patients by itself has been a major step in the right direction