Standardization of the inpatient oncology signout process.

Abstract

253 Background: Provider handoffs are prone to medical errors which in turn impact patient outcomes. Standardized signout tools have helped address this issue, however not in oncology. Methods: A pre-intervention survey (S1) was used to evaluate the current inpatient signout process and identify flaws by querying inpatient hematology/oncology fellows, attendings, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. This data informed the development of a standardized electronic signout tool which was subsequently piloted on our bone marrow transplant unit. A post-intervention survey (S2) is currently evaluating the impact of this tool. Results: Of S1 respondents (54%, 71/131), 75% felt the signout process needs improvement, largely due to outdated (70%) or incomplete (24%) information and general disorganization (49%). Nearly half felt the signout contains too much (28%) or too little (18%) information. 18% felt that patient care had been compromised or delayed due to poor signout. Items requested for inclusion in the signout tool by more than half of respondents included patient identifiers, health care proxy, code status/goals of care, active issues summary, cancer details and treatment history, and a to-do list. Full S1 results are shown in Table; S2 results are pending. Conclusions: Use of a standardized, electronic signout tool can further enhance the inpatient handoff process in terms of safety and efficiency. [Table: see text]