TJC releases tool to address miscommunication in healthcare
TJC releases tool to address miscommunication in healthcare
An estimated 80% of serious medical errors involve miscommunication between caregivers when patients are transferred or handed-off, according to the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, which recently released a new tool to address the problem.
The Hand-off Communications Targeted Solutions Tool (TST) is intended to assist healthcare organizations with the process of passing necessary and critical information about a patient from one caregiver to the next, or from one team of caregivers to another, to prevent miscommunication-related errors. In addition to patient harm, defective hand-offs can lead to delays in treatment, inappropriate treatment, and increased length of stay in the hospital, the group reports.
The Hand-off Communication TST was created to measure the effectiveness of handoffs within an organization or to another facility, and provide proven solutions to improve performance. Using the tool and the solutions from the Center’s Hand-off Communications Project, healthcare organizations have reduced readmissions by 50% and have reduced the time it takes to move a patient from the emergency department to an inpatient unit by 33% percent, the center reports.
Accredited organizations can access the TST and hand-off communications solutions on their secure Joint Commission Connect extranet. All of the hand-off communications solutions that were developed by the center and the leading hospitals can be found on the center website at http://tinyurl.com/7923wnz.
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