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Completed

NCT Number: NCT01796756

Quality Improvement in Handover of General Internal Medicine In-patients

Miscommunication during patient handover can jeopardize patient safety and is the focus of Quality Improvement initiatives by many organizations. It is widely recognized that such miscommunication is preventable using a number of strategies identified in the literature.

Currently, there is no formal handover process of General Internal Medicine in-patients, otherwise known as the Clinical Teaching Unit (CTU) at Vancouver General Hospital, which is a major patient safety concern. This project will implement a formal handover program and evaluate whether there are changes in resident satisfaction with handover, but more importantly, whether the investigators can improve patient outcomes.

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Key information

Conditions

Quality Improvement in Patient Handoff

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Vancouver General Hospital

Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Z 1M9, Canada

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Residents, medical students, and patients
  • Residents and medical students will be any rotating through General Internal Medicine at Vancouver General Hospital
  • Patients will be any admitted to General Internal Medicine and cared for during on-call hours (defined as 18:00 - 07:00)

Exclusion criteria

  • None for residents and medical students
  • Patients who are not being cared for during on-call hours (defined as 18:00 - 07:00)

Treatment and study plan

Handover program

Other

Primary outcomes

  1. Proportion of patients handed over to the on-call resident/Clinical Associate (CA)

    Time frame: 5 months

Other outcomes

  1. Proportion of patients the resident on-call did not receive information on that would have been useful

    Time frame: 5 months

  2. Frequency of patients transferred to the ICU

    Time frame: 5 months

  3. Frequency of patients referred to the Critical Care Outreach Team

    Time frame: 5 months

  4. Frequency of inappropriate code blue calls for patients with a "do not resuscitate" order

    Time frame: 5 months

  5. Aggregate length of stay of patients admitted to the Clinical Teaching Unit

    Time frame: 5 months

  6. Aggregate rate of death of patients admitted to the Clinical Teaching Unit

    Time frame: 5 months

  7. Resource Utilization for patients assessed by the resident on-call overnight

    Time frame: 5 months

    Resource utilization will be defined by the ordering of: radiological imaging, blood work, electrocardiogram, blood transfusions, IV fluid administration, and antibiotics.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of British Columbia

Other

Collaborators

  • Canadian Medical Protective Association

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2013
Primary completion
2015
Study completion
2015
First posted
Feb 22, 2013
Registry last updated
Jan 15, 2016

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.