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Resident handoffs linked to increased patient deaths

Residency Program Insider, May 20, 2016

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New research presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference shows that when medical residents complete a clinical rotation and hand their patients off to other residents, patient mortality increases significantly.

Researchers reviewed more than 230,000 internal medicine discharges from 10 Veterans Administration hospitals from 2008 to 2014. Of those, they identified nearly 64,000 patients who died or were discharged within seven days of experiencing a handoff involving residents. When compared to other patients, these patients had a 64-95% increase in in-hospital mortality, a 76-82% increase in 30-day mortality, and a 72-84% in 90-day mortality.

Source: American Thoracic Society

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