Patient Safety Outcomes after Two Years of an Enhanced Internal Medicine Residency Clinic Handoff

• Published in: The American journal of medicine Vol. 127; no. 1; pp. 96 - 99
• Main Authors: Pincavage, Amber T., MD, Prochaska, Megan, MD, Dahlstrom, Marcus, MD, Lee, Wei Wei, MD, MPH, Beiting, Kimberly J, Ratner, Shana, MD, Oyler, Julie, MD, Vinci, Lisa M., MD, MS, Arora, Vineet M., MD, MA
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 2014; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Chicago; Clinics; Confounding Factors (Epidemiology); Effectiveness; Female; Hospitals, University; Humans; Internal Medicine; Internal Medicine - education; Internship and Residency; Intervention; Male; Middle Aged; Outcome and Process Assessment (Health Care); Patient Handoff; Patient Safety; Sustainability; Chicago; United States > US
• ISSN: 0002-9343; 1555-7162
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2013.09.024

When internal medicine residents in the US graduate from residency training, their patients experience a handoff to another primary care provider. These handoffs are often to a less experienced junior resident and also occur in other specialties such as pediatrics, psychiatry, and family medicine, internal medicine. Despite the risks of clinic handoffs, few residency programs have outpatient handoff systems in place, and the few interventions that address clinic handoffs haven't reported sustained improvements in patient safety. Here, Pincavage et al evaluate the sustainability and effectiveness of a clinic handoff intervention in an internal medicine resident continuity clinic on patient safety outcomes, including losses to follow-up and acute care, after 2 years of implementation.