SynthesisBMJ quality & safety2025
Use of structured handoff protocols for within-hospital unit transitions: a systematic review from Making Healthcare Safer IV.
Synthesis in BMJ quality & safety, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- AI-Based Structured Information Extraction From Synthetic Nursing Handover Transcripts: Comparative Evaluation of Large Language Models.JMIR nursing · 2026Article
- Enhancing Nurses' Handoff Practices Through Simulation-Based I-PASS Training: An Evidence-Based Study.Journal of clinical nursing · 2026Article
- From Evidence to Value: Integrating Evidence-Based Medicine, Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, Learning Health Systems, and Value-Based Healthcare.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Review
- Organizational Patient Safety Culture, Psychological Resilience, and Job Satisfaction Among Nurses in ISO-Certified and Non-ISO-Certified Departments: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Comparison.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- How Nurses Maintain High-Risk Medication Safety in Paediatric Intensive Care.Nursing in critical care · 2026Article
- Communication failure during operating room turnover: a HFACS-informed qualitative case study of system-level coordination.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Voice-Based Structured Nursing Documentation Using Automatic Speech Recognition and Large Language Models: Development and Evaluation Study.JMIR nursing · 2026Article
- Beyond the report: a qualitative exploration of safety incidents in maternity services.BMJ open quality · 2026Article
- Standardizing Tracheostomy Discharge Education Using an Interdisciplinary Hand-off Form: A Quality Improvement Study.ORL-head and neck nursing : official journal of the Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Nurses · 2026Article
- Exploring leadership skills development in nursing: a qualitative investigation into the excellence in care program in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Article
- Shift-to-Shift Information Transfer: Phenomenological Study of Nurses' Experiences.JMIR nursing · 2025Article
- Can handoffs bridge the interprofessional divide to build a team?BMJ quality & safety · 2025Article
- Association Between Hour-by-Hour ICU Admission Timing and 24-h Mortality: A Single-Center Retrospective Observational Study.Acute medicine & surgeryArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHandoffs are a weak link in the chain of clinical care of inpatients. Within-unit handoffs are increasing in frequency due to changes in duty hours. There are strong rationales for standardising the reporting of critical information between providers, and such practices have been adopted by other industries.
objectivesAs part of Making Healthcare Safer IV we reviewed the evidence from the last 10 years that the use of structured handoff protocols influences patient safety outcomes within acute care hospital units.
methodsWe searched four databases for systematic reviews and original research studies of any design that assessed structured handoff protocols and reported patient safety outcomes. Screening and eligibility were done in duplicate, while data extraction was done by one reviewer and checked by a second reviewer. The synthesis of results is narrative. Certainty of evidence was based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework as modified for Making Healthcare Safer IV.
resultsWe searched for evidence on 12 handoff tools. Two systematic reviews of Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation (SBAR) (including 11 and 28 original research studies; 5 and 15 were about the use in handoffs) and two newer original research studies provided low certainty evidence that the SBAR tool improves patient safety outcomes. Ten original research studies (about nine implementations) provided moderate certainty evidence that the I-PASS tool (Illness severity, Patient summary, Action list, Situation awareness, Synthesis to receiver) reduces medical errors and adverse events. No other structured handoff tool was assessed in more than one study or one setting.
conclusionThe SBAR and I-PASS structured tools for within-unit handoffs probably improve patient safety, with I-PASS having a stronger certainty of evidence. Other published tools lack sufficient evidence to draw conclusions. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42024576324.
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