AHRQ Patient Safety Network ► Insensible losses: when the medical community forgets the family.

AHRQ Patient Safety Network

A medical student finds himself in position of having to inform a family of terrible news after several transitions of care.Health Aff (Millwood). 2015;34:707-710.

Insensible losses: when the medical community forgets the family.

Elias P. Health Aff (Millwood). 2015;34:707-710.

Care transitions are a vulnerable time for patients, and handoff improvement is a national patient safety priority. This commentary relates how a medical student's experience with handing off a patient to an intensive care unit touches on hierarchy and a missed opportunity for transparent and family-centered communication. A past AHRQ WebM&M perspective discusses problems with inpatient handovers and recommends strategies to enhance handoff quality.

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