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Critical Care
Published in: Critical Care 1/2012

01-02-2012 | Viewpoint

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

Authors: Michael D Cohen, Brian Hilligoss, André Carlos Kajdacsy-Balla Amaral

Published in: Critical Care | Issue 1/2012

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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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Metadata
Title
A handoff is not a telegram: an understanding of the patient is co-constructed
Authors
Michael D Cohen
Brian Hilligoss
André Carlos Kajdacsy-Balla Amaral
Publication date
01-02-2012
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Critical Care / Issue 1/2012
Electronic ISSN: 1364-8535
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/cc10536

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