A huddle handoff communication tool, developed by an academic hospital, may help improve the process for addressing violence in the healthcare workplace, according to a study published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.
The hospital, where staff members reported two violent patient incidents in a two-year period, formed a multidisciplinary quality improvement team to address future risks. The QI team designed and tested the Potentially Aggressive/Violent Huddle Form using two Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles.
The huddle handoff communication tool involved an emergency department nurse initiating the huddle process by telling the admitting unit that a patient at risk for violence was admitted. The admitting team would then inform the ED team, so both teams could work together in the handoff call.
For the study, the huddle process occurred during 21 transfers throughout the first Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle, and 18 times during the second cycle.
Researchers found that ED nurses as well as nurses in six medical units felt safe during the transfer process 100 percent of the time over both cycles, as compared to feeling safe 54.7 percent of the time at baseline.
Additionally, satisfaction with the process improved from 53.3 percent to 75 percent from the first to second cycle.