• Lauren S Park, Gloria Yang, Kay See Tan, Charlotte H Wong, Sabine Oskar, Ruth A Borchardt, and Luis E Tollinche.
• The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
• Open J Anesthesiol. 2017 Apr 1; 7 (4): 69-82.

BackgroundOmission of patient information in perioperative communication is closely linked to adverse events. Use of checklists to standardize the handoff in the post anesthesia care unit (PACU) has been shown to effectively reduce medical errors.ObjectiveOur study investigates the use of a checklist to improve quantity of data transfer during handoffs in the PACU.DesignA cross-sectional observational study.SettingPACU at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC); June 13, 2016 through July 15, 2016.Patients Other ParticipantsWe observed the handoff reports between the nurses, PACU midlevel providers, anesthesia staff, and surgical staff.InterventionA physical checklist was provided to all anesthesia staff and recommended to adhere to the list at all observed PACU handoffs.Main Outcome MeasureQuantity of reported handoff items during 60 pre- and 60 post-implementation of a checklist.ResultsComposite value from both surgical and anesthesia reports showed an increase in the mean report of 8.7 items from pre-implementation period to 10.9 post-implementation. Given that surgical staff reported the mean of 5.9 items pre-implementation and 5.5 items post-implementation without intervention, improvements in anesthesia staff report with intervention improved the overall handoff data transfer.ConclusionsUsing a physical 12-item checklist for PACU handoff increased overall data transfer.

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