Addition of CORES to the I-PASS Handoff: A Resident-led Quality Improvement Study

Quality patient handoff is vital in patient care and attainable with structured handoff systems, such as the I-PASS mnemonic. This paper describes a continuous quality improvement study occurring after the implementation of the I-PASS handoff bundle. Our objectives were to (1) determine compliance with the inclusion of I-PASS elements during handoff and (2) determine whether the addition of CORES, an electronic tool that generates a patient list designed for use with I-PASS, would improve compliance and sustainability. METHODS: We developed an aim statement: 90% of handoffs would include all 6 I-PASS elements within 6 months of the addition of CORES. Two plan–do–study–act (PDSA) cycles were conducted. In PDSA 1, we implemented CORES. In PDSA 2, we reeducated residents on I-PASS elements and the importance of a quality handoff. We used a checklist to evaluate the inclusion of I-PASS elements. Following PDSA 2, we administered a survey regarding CORES to involved residents. RESULTS: During PDSA 1, illness severity, diagnosis, patient summary, contingency planning, action list, and receiver synthesis were present in 13%, 62%, 52%, 87%, 42%, and 25% of handoffs, respectively. Overall compliance was 47%. During PDSA 2, illness severity remained stable at 13% whereas the remainder increased to 84%, 82%, 93%, 91%, and 37%. Overall compliance increased to 67%. Following PDSA 2, 100% of survey respondents reported improved handoff with CORES. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we show that neither implementation of CORES nor resident reeducation resulted in the return to high postintervention compliance observed after implementation of the I-PASS handoff bundle.