Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
6-16-2025
First Advisor
Lisa Drake
Second Advisor
Brittany Marshall
Abstract
Medical errors, specifically communication errors, cause adverse patient outcomes, death, and an estimated annual cost to institutions of over two million dollars. Despite numerous studies highlighting the need for standardized communication during patient transfers and recommendations from regulatory bodies such as the Joint Commission, the gaps in standardized handoffs remain. The Doctor of Nursing Practice's (DNP's) quality improvement project aimed to increase knowledge of the intensive care unit (ICU) and anesthesia clinicians through interprofessional education (IPE) about the illness severity, patient summary, action plan, situational awareness/contingency plan, synthesis by receiver (I-PASS) handoff tool to promote consistent, complete tool use during patient transfer between the two services. Guided by Donabedian's Structure-Process-Outcome Theoretical Framework and Kotter's 8-step Change Model, the mixed methods quasi-experimental project implemented one-hour IPE sessions with identical 10-question multiple-choice pre-and post-tests measuring knowledge gained and handoff observations during patient care transfers, evaluating the consistency of I-PASS tool use. Pre-and post-test scores analysis two-tailed Wilcoxon signed rank test due to lack of normality. The pre-test median (90.00), post-test median (100), alpha value of .05, V = 0.00, z = -3.88, p < .001 showed statistical significance. Descriptive statistics indicated pre-and post-intervention compliance with I-PASS handoff, from 60% to 100%. I-PASS element inclusion increased from 38% – 64% to 89%-96%. The DNP project supports IPE to improve knowledge and use of the I-PASS handoff tool during patient care transfers to improve communication.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Woody, Kimberly, "Quality Improvement Project Education and Implementation of I-PASS Handoff between Critical Care Clinicians and Anesthesia Staff" (2025). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 189.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/189
