Date
8-29-2025
Department
School of Nursing
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Chair
Shade Adigun
Keywords
complex care coordination, continuity, nurse perception, provider communication, transition tool, transitional care, Veteran’s Administration
Disciplines
Nursing
Recommended Citation
Baker, Shannon Collier, "Passing The Torch: Evaluating Documentation Quality and Its Impact on Nurses’ Perceptions of Communication Across VA Care Transitions" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7458.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7458
Abstract
Effective communication during transitions of care is crucial to ensuring patient safety and optimizing outcomes. However, current practices may fall short in supporting clear and comprehensive communication among healthcare providers, particularly during complex care transitions involving Veterans who have received targeted care coordination intervention outside of their primary Patient Aligned Care Team. The absence of standardized tools for handoff documentation exacerbates fragmented communication and ambiguity about the transfer of care management responsibilities, potentially leading to avoidable errors and care coordination failures. This project aimed to investigate nurses' perceptions of the adequacy of communication during the transition of moderate to complex care coordination to lower levels of care coordination for a specific cohort of Veterans receiving specialized care coordination intervention through the Veterans Health Administration’s Care Coordination and Integration Case Management initiative. A comparative descriptive approach was taken to gather data on nurses' perceptions related to handoff communications during patient care transitions. Results indicated that nurses perceive significant barriers to effective communication during care transitions, with many valuing tools that provide comprehensive handoff documentation during transitions of care. Key issues identified included a lack of documentation suitable for providing pertinent details of complex care coordination interventions and unclear communication of ongoing care responsibilities at the basic level of care coordination. The findings underscore the need for improved communication strategies and tools to enhance the quality of handoff processes.
