Insensible losses: when the medical community forgets the family.
Elias P. Insensible losses: when the medical community forgets the family. Health Aff (Millwood). 2015;34(4):707-710. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0536.
Care transitions are a vulnerable time for patients, and handoff improvement is a national patient safety priority. This commentary relates how a medical student's experience with handing off a patient to an intensive care unit touches on hierarchy and a missed opportunity for transparent and family-centered communication. A past AHRQ WebM&M perspective discusses problems with inpatient handovers and recommends strategies to enhance handoff quality.