• Erin W Pukenas, Gregory Dodson, Edward R Deal, Irwin Gratz, Elaine Allen, and Amanda R Burden.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, One Cooper Plaza, Camden, NJ 08103, USA. Electronic address: pukenas@rowan.edu.
• J Clin Anesth. 2014 Nov 1;26(7):530-8.

Study ObjectiveTo examine the results of simulation-based education with deliberate practice on the acquisition of handoff skills by studying resident intraoperative handoff communication performances.DesignPreinvention and postintervention pilot study.SettingSimulated operating room of a university-affiliated hospital.MeasurementsResident handoff performances during 27 encounters simulating elective surgery were studied. Ten residents (CA-1, CA-2, and CA-3) participated in a one-day simulation-based handoff course. Each resident repeated simulated handoffs to deliberately practice with an intraoperative handoff checklist. One year later, 7 of the 10 residents participated in simulated intraoperative handoffs. All handoffs were videotaped and later scored for accuracy by trained raters. A handoff assessment tool was used to characterize the type and frequency of communication failures. The percentage of handoff errors and omissions were compared before simulation and postsimulation-based education with deliberate practice and at one year following the course.Main ResultsInitially, the overall communication failure rate, defined as the percentage of handoff omissions plus errors, was 29.7%. After deliberate practice with the intraoperative handoff checklist, the communication failure rate decreased to 16.8%, and decreased further to 13.2% one year after the course.ConclusionsSimulation-based education using deliberate practice may result in improved intraoperative handoff communication and retention of skills at one year.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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