Medical Staff

ED-to-inpatient sign-out voicemails eases communication, study says

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, March 24, 2009

What is a better method of sign-out communication—a conversation about the transfer of a patient or a voicemail? Researchers at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Yale University School of Medicine, both located in New Haven, CT, evaluated the traditional oral (synchronous) communication versus voicemail (asynchronous) communication, in a new study “Evaluation of an Asynchronous Physician Voicemail Sign-out for Emergency Department Admissions,” published in Annals of Emergency Medicine on March 13.

In 2007, researchers surveyed ED and internal medicine house staff, physician assistants, and hospitalist attendings who used a voicemail sign-out system at an urban, academic medical center.

The majority of those surveyed (72%) said that a recorded voicemail sign-out, which was a median of 2.6 minutes long, was easier than traditional oral communication, and 43% said it was more accurate.

On the other hand, the respondents said that interaction worsened with the voicemail system.

“Voicemail sign-out may be an efficient means of improving sign-out communication for stable ED admissions,” concludes the study.

This model for voicemail communication could be an option to reduce errors. More than one-quarter of patients that are transferred from the ED to internal medicine departments experience an adverse event or near miss, according to a study done last year entitled, “Dropping the Baton a Qualitative Analysis of Failures during the Transition from Emergency Department to Inpatient Care,” published in the Annals on Emergency Medicine.

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