NRS490 WEEK3 Capstone PICOT: Implementing Effective Nursing Handoff to Prevent Medical Errors

Running head: CAPSTONE PICOT: IMPLEMENTING EFFECTIVE 1 Capstone PICOT: Implementing Effective Nursing Handoff to Prevent Medical Errors Paulette Winsor Grand Canyon University: 490 February 18th CAPSTONE PICOT: IMPLEMENTING EFFECTIVE 2 Implementing Effective Nursing Handoff to Prevent Medical Errors The purpose for this evidence-based project was to compare patient outcomes using Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendations (SBAR) for nursing handoff compared to traditional nursing handoff using a report sheet, taping report and not using a handoff tool. Patient safety and patient centered care are in the forefront of health care with an emphasis to practice with evidence based research to improve patient outcomes. According to the Institute of Medicine, there needs to be a drastic shift in patient care to meet the demands of our increasing high acuity patients with multiple comorbidities. By the year 2030, nearly 20% of the population will be age 65 or over, having multiple comorbidities and need more highly trained and skilled nurses to meet their needs (The National Academies of Sciences Engineering Medicine, 2015). One of the issues discovered is this evidenced based research by the writer is that there is an increase in medical errors when the SBAR tool is not utilized for nursing handoff and when calling physicians for orders. SBAR has improved patient safety, outcomes, nurse communication and collaboration allowing for a set tool to be utilized to pass along pertinent information that is critical to ensure safe delivery of patient care (Stewart & Hand, 2017, p. 298). Problem Statement The identified clinical problem is poor communication during nursing handoff can lead to medical errors and increase sentinel event (Shapiro, 2017, p. 41). Poor communication during nurse handoff has been proven to lend to approximately 60% of preventable medical errors, increasing the number of mortalities, admissions to the intensive care unit and cost hospitals billions of dollars annually (Shapiro, 2017, p. 41). One of the fundamental skills to practicing evidence based patient care is by asking focused questions that can researched and proven to improve patient outcomes and ensure the safe delivery of care.