Improving Handoffs between Outpatient Clinics and Acute Cancer Care Centers at a Tertiary Oncology Hospital Using a Quality Improvement Methodology

Accrediting agencies recommend safe and accurate transfer of clinical information during care transitions. At our institution, a tertiary care cancer hospital, Ambulatory clinic providers use multiple methods for communicating essential information to emergency care providers. Therefore, we initiated a quality improvement project using a standardized electronic handoff during the transfer of care between providers at outpatient clinics and acute cancer care centers. The project was launched in May 2023 and aimed to achieve electronic handoff for 70% or more of ambulatory care patients transferred to emergency care by October 2023. A multidisciplinary team developed an electronic handoff, provided training, and monitored handoff compliance for selected pilot areas. About 70% of patient transfers had a handoff using the handoff tool: physician assistants and nurse practitioners did so 92.63% of the time, and physicians did so 7.1% of the time. Only 13% of ambulatory and 17% of emergency providers were satisfied with the previously existing handoff methods. After the project, 73% of both ambulatory and emergency providers responded that they were very satisfied with the electronic handoff tool, which provided safe information without duplication, was efficient, and was easily accessible to all caregivers.