Analyzing and mitigating the risks of patient harm during operating room to intensive care unit patient handoffs.

Poor handoff communication between teams can hinder safe patient care. This article describes the use of a risk management approach to improve handoffs from the operating room to intensive care. Frontline providers participated in a failure mode effects analysis (FMEA) to identify process failures, causes, and consequences related to handoffs. Participants reported that this approach helped them understand the handoff process beyond their individual roles.