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National Patient Safety Goal - Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers
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Improved communications as a healthcare standard

In this era of process and quality improvement, the Joint Commission has established national patient safety goals. Improving the effectiveness of communication has been placed at the top of the list—as a healthcare standard.

Upon completion of this lesson, you should be able to:

  • Describe the importance of effective communication in reducing medical errors
  • Apply effective team training strategies to improve handoffs
  • Detail the essential content and sequence of effective handoffs.

The following documents are always available by clicking the appropriate links on the left side of your screen.

  • The “I-PASS Interactive Guide” link contains the Observation Forms for Structured Team Communication Techniques including: Brief Checklist, Debrief Checklist, Huddle Checklist, Cross-Monitoring/ Feedback Checklist, and the Assertive Statement Checklist.
  • The “I-PASS Handoff” sheet can be accessed by clicking on “I-PASS Handoff.”
  • The Patient Summaries can be accessed by clicking “Patient Summary for Exercise 1” or “Patient Summary for Exercise 2.”

In this lesson you will learn team communication techniques and a standardized handoff process that will have a direct impact on the care and safety of patients. So, let’s get started.

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