PACU handoff Checklists

黄建宏

PACU handoff Checklists

The ASA defines the standard for OR- to-PACU handoff:"Upon arrival in the PACU, the patient shall be re-evaluated and a verbalreport to the  responsible PACU nurse byan anesthesia provider”. Currently there is not standard format about what andhow to report.  The quality and quantityof  information exchanged can still bevariable. There is no widely accepted guidelines exist for PACU handoff.

A group of anesthesiology residents  in Medstar  Georgetown UniversityHospital, Washington, DC developed  PACUhandoff checklists.  They also conducteda study to verify the effectiveness of the checklists. The results werepublished in June issue of Anesthesia Patients Safety FoundationNewsletter.  Residents who used achecklist (Group B)  handoff 8 items onthe checklists with a significantly higher frequency compared to residents  who did not use a checklist (Group A).  Handoffs with the use the checklist (Group B)spent less time discussing  each itemthan handoffs that did not  use checklist(Group A).

With the use of a checklist, the percentage of  information exchanged  during PACU handoff increased  significantly. The checklist clearly  increased the amount of information exchanged    during our handoffs. The study is the firststudy to target handoffs  byresidents.  The standardized handoffchecklist may help reduce morbidity and mortality.

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reference:
1.  Christopher Potestio, Jay Mottla, Emily Kelley, Kerry DeGroot: Improving Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) Handoff by Implementing a Succinct Checklist. APSF Newsletter, June 2015; page 13-15