A prospective observational study of physician handoff for intensive-care-unit-to-ward patient transfers.
Li P, Stelfox HT, Ghali WA. A Prospective Observational Study of Physician Handoff for Intensive-Care-Unit-to-Ward Patient Transfers. Am J Med. 2011;124(9). doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2011.04.027.
Physicians and patients generally expressed satisfaction with the handoff process when patients were transferred from the intensive care unit to the general ward. However, direct verbal communication occurred in only a small minority of cases, and several preventable errors did occur, implying the need for a more standardized process.