Effects of an Electronic Checklist on the Quality of Patient Care Handoff Process from the Operating Room to Intensive Care Unit

Background and Aim: Handoff is one of the main processes of health care providers. Paper checklist is commonly used to handoff care from operating room (OR) to intensive care unit (ICU). However, this tool do not guarantee accurate and complete exchange of information during handoff. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of an electronic handoff checklist on improving the quality of care transfer from the OR to ICU. Materials and methods: The sample of this quasi-experimental study included all situations of patient handoffs from the OR to ICU at Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz city. Accordingly, ۸۴ handoff situations were randomly divided into ۲ equal control and intervention groups and participants completed paper or electronic checklists respectively. Quality of care handoff was assessed with Handover Evaluation Scale (HES).  Results: Mean HES scores in paper-checklist and electronic-checklist groups were ۳۵.۳۸±۳.۶۶ and ۳۸.۱۰±۳.۶۱ respectively. Handoff scores in two dimensions of quality of information and efficiency in the electronic-checklist group were significantly higher than another group (P= ۰.۰۰۴). Conclusion: It seems electronic handoff checklist can increase the quality of patient care handoff from OR to ICU.

Keywords:

Patient Handoff , Checklist , Operating Room , Intensive Care Unit. , تحویل بیمار , چک لیست های کاغذی , تحویل الکترونیکی , اتاق عمل , بخش مراقبت های ویژه