title: Role of Healthcare Information Technology in handoffs.
abstract: Handoffs-transfer of patient care from one clinician or service to another-are well known patient safety dangers. Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) as an intervening and powerful force in handoffs has received comparatively little attention. The role of HIT in concert with paper documentation has received even less attention. We analyze handoffs in relation to electronic records and hybrid systems (both paper and HIT) to identify sources of error and miscommunication. We propose a typology of handoffs and illustrate several of them.
authors: School of Medicine & Sociology Dept, University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA. rkoppel@sas.upenn.edu
authors: Ross
authors: R
authors: Koppel
authors: Joel Leon
authors: JL
authors: Telles
mesh_terms: D057286:Electronic Health Records; D008490:Medical Informatics; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D062209:Patient Handoff; D062526:Patient Navigation; D014481:United States