LAUSR

B edside shift handoff (BSH) is widely discussed in nursing literature. Its well-established benefits include reducing harmful events and improving communication. Many reasons support the consistent use of BSH as a practice standard in hospitals. Notably, The Joint Commission reports that over 80% of all healthcare errors result from communication breakdowns. Nurse handoff is defined as “the exchang[e] of vital patient information, responsibility, and accountability between the off-going and oncoming nurses to ensure safe continuity of care and the delivery of best clinical outcomes.” In contrast to BSH, traditional nursing shift handoff has occurred in a variety of places such as the hallway, nurses’ station, or supply closet. Traditional nursing shift handoff is inconsistent, prone to variation, and does not allow clinicians the opportunity to visualize the patient or the care environment at shift change. BSH encompasses each of the six Domains of Health Care Quality adopted by the Institute of Medicine (now known as The National Academy of Medicine): • Safe: BSH reduces the likelihood of errors and safety events. • Effective: The uniformity of BSH improves staff accountability and the consistency of shared information. • Patient-centered: BSH allows for the personalization and involvement of the patient, family, and caregivers. • Timely: BSH allows for shift-toshift communication to discuss pertinent matters in real time. • Efficient: BSH provides improved care coordination, improved communication, and mutual understanding of discharge plans. • Equitable: BSH facilitates consistent and improved communication, which is beneficial for patients and families who may be less familiar with hospital processes and terminology. This article discusses a quality improvement project that explored the nurse perceptions of BSH as a new practice standard in a pediatric hospital. Perceptions of the handoff process were measured before and after the implementation of BSH.