Emergency Nurses Release New Guidelines for Patient Transfers

Safe transfer of patients between long-term and emergency facilities requires effective communication.

Des Plaines, Illinois — The Emergency Nurses Association’s (ENA) Institute for Quality, Safety and Injury Prevention announced the release its new Safer Handoff Guidelines to help facilitate safer transfer of patients between long-term and emergency care facilities. The purpose of the guidelines is to provide nurses in emergency departments, long-term care settings and emergency medical services (EMS) professionals with tools to help them develop standardized communication processes that improve patient care.

“Nurses who work in both settings have expressed concern about the number of patients being transferred for whom they do not have pertinent, and sometimes life-saving, documentation,” said 2010 ENA President Diane Gurney, RN, MS, CEN. “As the U.S. population ages, the number of older adults living in long-term care who are likely to periodically require emergency services will increase making this transfer of information a vital component of quality care.”

“The ENA Institute for Quality, Safety and Injury Prevention proactively recognized the need for quality improvement in this area and responded by developing guidelines that will help facilitate safer patient transfer,” added Gurney.

The primary objective of a handoff/ transfer is to provide accurate information about a patient’s care, treatment, and services; current condition; and any recent or anticipated changes. The information communicated during a handoff must be accurate. ENA recognizes that each emergency department, long-term care facility, and EMS provider is unique in terms of handoff/ transfer of older adult patients’ procedures and that each state has a specific set of regulations to consider. Instead of recommending a one-size-fits-all handoff/ transfer form, ENA gathered evidence and resources from multiple reliable sources to facilitate the handoff/ transfer process. Developing standardized communication processes, including the use of a handoff form, can ultimately improve quality of care and patient safety.

Patient handoffs are rarely conducted in quiet or private settings and they are often interrupted one or more times. In addition, language differences, writing legibility, noise, and other situational factors can present significant challenges in communication. Under these circumstances, missing or incorrect information can, and sometimes does, lead to unintended, sometimes costly, and potentially harmful consequences such as hospital readmissions, unnecessary tests and delayed care, drug interactions and adverse drug events.

ENA’s Safer Handoff Guidelines are available to help improve the patient handoff process by logging onto to ENA’s Web site at www.ena.org/marketplace or by calling 800-243-8362.

About ENA
ENA is the only professional nurses association dedicated to defining the future of emergency nursing and emergency care through advocacy, expertise, innovation and leadership. Founded in 1970 and currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, ENA serves as the voice of more than 37,000 members and their patients through research, publications, professional development, injury prevention, and patient education. Additional information is available at ENA’s Web site www.ena.org.