Because communication and handoff failures are a root cause of two-thirds of "sentinel events"- serious, often fatal preventable adverse events in hospitals improving handoffs has been identified by AHRQ and the Joint Commission as a priority in nationwide efforts to improve patient safety. Comparative Effectiveness Research on handoff tools and processes has identified specific strategies to improve handoffs and reduce medical errors: 1) team training; 2) verbal mnemonics; and 3) use of written/computerized tools to supplement verbal sign-outs. To accelerate residents' use of CER-based handoff practices and improve patient safety, the investigators are implementing the three inventions above as a Resident Handoff Bundle (RHB) in eight pediatric hospitals in the United States and Canada.

The I-PASS Study was initiated in response to mounting evidence that communication and handoff failures are a root cause of two-thirds of "sentinel events" - serious, often fatal, preventable adverse events in hospitals. The Agency on Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Joint Commission have identified improving handoffs in care as a priority in nationwide efforts to improve patient safety. Research on handoff tools and processes has identified team training, introduction of verbal mnemonics, and use of written or computerized tools as strategies to improve handoffs and reduce medical errors. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of a resident handoff bundle (RHB) comprised of these three strategies in addressing medical errors, verbal and written miscommunications, and resident workflow and satisfaction.

The US Department of Health and Human Services granted $3 million in funding, with additional support provided by member institutional and private foundations. A total of nine hospitals in the United States and Canada will serve as data collection sites for the study (see list below). Staggered six-month waves of baseline data collection of medical errors and resident workflow, satisfaction, and miscommunications began in January 2010. Each site has a six-month wash-in period to implement the RHB intervention before embarking upon an additional six months of post-intervention data collection. Analysis and dissemination will begin upon completion of data collection at the last wave of sites in April 2013.

Study Sites:

Children's Hospital Boston (Boston, MA) - Coordinating Site Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA) - Data Coordinating Center

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (Palo Alto, CA) UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital (San Francisco, CA) OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital (Portland, OR) Primary Children's Medical Center (Salt Lake City, UT) St. Louis Children's Hospital (St. Louis, MO) Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (Cincinnati, OH) Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, ON) National Capital Consortium (Washington, DC) St. Christopher's Hospital for Children (Philadelphia, PA)

Study Leadership:

Principal Investigator: Christopher Landrigan, MD, MPH Project Leader: Amy Starmer, MD, MPH

Inclusion Criteria:

• The study will also include direct observation of house staff residents on the medical service. While implementation of the RHB itself is a QI protocol, the observation and collection of data from residents is research. We will therefore obtain informed consent from residents for participation in the research related to the effects on their care processes and experiences of implementation of the RHB. Participation will be voluntary.
• All resident physicians rotating through study teams during the two 6 month periods of data collection will be included in the study if informed consent is granted. No resident physicians will be excluded on the basis of age, gender, ethnicity, race, or other demographic features. We anticipate enrolling a maximum of 70 resident physicians per site. This number may be significantly less due to the fact that certain residents may rotate through data collection study units more than once during the study period.

Exclusion Criteria:

• The only exclusion criteria will be residents who do not rotate through study units during the data collection periods