BACKGROUND Clinical handover is a necessary process for the continuation of safe patient care; however, deficiencies in the handover process can introduce error. While the number of handover studies increases, few have validated implemented improvements with repeated audit. OBJECTIVE To improve the morning handover round on a busy critical care unit and assess sustainability of improvement th...

BACKGROUND Clinical guidelines offer an accessible synthesis of the best evidence of effectiveness of interventions, providing recommendations and standards for clinical practice. Many guidelines are relevant to the diagnosis and management of the acutely unwell patient during the first 24-48 h of admission. Care bundles are comprised of a small number of evidence-based interventions that when ...

Intrahospital transport of critically ill patients must be considered as part of the critical care continuum. The level of care provided must be commensurate with the severity of illness. These transfers are intensive in terms of utilization of personnel and resources. Advance preparation and optimal coordination of the transport process go a long way toward safer transfers of the critically ill.

background: quality of care for patients might be increased costs of care reduced as a result of  standards implementation in intensive care units because it prevent managerial errors and reduce preventable deaths in this sensible unit in hospitals. the main goal of the icus can be achieved by proper financial resource allocation, monitoring standards, fixing old or non standard physical struct...

www.aafp.org / fpm ■ F A M I L Y P R A C T I C E M A N A G E M E N T ■ 39 IL LU ST R A TI O N B Y T IM L EE Our current health care system is plagued by long waiting times and delays in care. These waits and delays dissatisfy patients, medical staff and physicians, while increasing health care costs, reducing potential income and adversely affecting clinical outcomes. Patients experience long w...

BACKGROUND Information transfer is critical in the primary care to specialist referral process and has been examined extensively in the US and other countries, yet there has been little attention to the patient's perspective of the information transfer process. This cross-sectional study examined the quality of the information received by patients with a chronic condition from the referring and...