Date
1-2020
Department
School of Nursing
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Chair
Cynthia Goodrich
Keywords
Patient Handoff, Virtual Handoff, Bedside Handoff, ED Boarding, Patient Satisfaction
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences | Nursing
Recommended Citation
Heintz, Lynda Michelle, "Improving Patient Satisfaction with the Virtual Handoff Process through the Utilization of Educational Pamphlets in the Emergency Department" (2020). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 2313.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/2313
Abstract
Boarding patients in the emergency room while waiting to transfer the patient to the proper unit can be harmful to clinical care and have significant financial opportunity costs. At one local hospital it was found that on average patients were being boarded in the emergency room (ED) for approximately 85 minutes waiting to be transferred. Several barriers that caused this delay were found including, delay in room cleaning, nurse staff shortage, and inability to give report to the nurse receiving the patient. In an attempt to combat this delay which may be caused by a difficulty in giving patient report, this organization is rolling out a virtual bedside handoff process. While virtual technology is not a new concept, there are many patients that may not be comfortable with the technology. The purpose of the evidence-based project was to provide a written educational pamphlet that details the how’s and why’s of the virtual handoff process to the patient to be given upon admission. The goal of the educational pamphlet was to increase the patients’ satisfaction with the process. A pre-survey was given to a group of patients after they experienced the virtual handoff process to assess their comfort level. These results were compared to the post-survey results of patients that received the educational pamphlet prior to experiencing the virtual handoff process. Ten pre-surveys and seven post-surveys were analyzed utilizing SPSS and descriptive statistics. The analysis concluded that the participants who received the educational pamphlet felt more prepared for the virtual handoff process.