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Review
. 2012 Feb 8;16(1):303.
doi: 10.1186/cc10536.

A handoff is not a telegram: an understanding of the patient is co-constructed

Michael D Cohen  1 , Brian Hilligoss, André Carlos Kajdacsy-Balla Amaral
Affiliations
Review

A handoff is not a telegram: an understanding of the patient is co-constructed

Michael D Cohen et al. Crit Care. .

Abstract

Hospital handoffs are believed to be a key locus of communication breakdown that can endanger patient safety and undermine quality of care. Substantial new efforts to better understand handoffs and to improve handoff practices are under way. Many such efforts appear to be seriously hampered, however, by an underlying presumption that the essential function of a handoff is one-way information transmission. Here, we examine social science literature that supports a richer framing of handoff conversations, one that characterizes them as co-constructions of an understanding of the patient.

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Comment in

  • Bedside handover of critically ill patients.
    Wise MP, Morgan MP, Hingston CD, Watkins HL. Wise MP, et al. Crit Care. 2012 Dec 12;16(2):419. doi: 10.1186/cc11245. Crit Care. 2012. PMID: 22449456 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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