Improving Electronic Patient Handoff in an Orthopaedic Residency using the Listrunner(©) Application

INTRODUCTION: Miscommunication during shift change and other handoff events is a common source of malpractice claims and patient-care errors. An efficient patient handoff system is imperative to prevent miscommunication. Owning to limitations with our current handoff system and to an ever-increasing reliance on electronic health information, our residency program sought to modernize our handoff method. METHODS: To improve handoff communication, the HIPAA-compliant application Listrunner(©) was adopted. Members of the orthopaedic trauma team were oriented to the new application. Change-of-shift patient handoff was transitioned from the current email system to List-runner(©). After three months of using the new application, a web-based questionnaire was administered to all members of the care team to assess their experiences, including perceived benefits and limitations of the Listrunner(©) application. RESULTS: Seventeen orthopaedic resident physicians and three orthopaedic trauma attending physicians completed the survey. While almost half of the respondents were satisfied using email as a checkout tool, more than half of study participants indicated that it lacked security and several users believed there was a need for improvement. Most indicated that Listrunner(©) was easy to use, improved clinical efficiency, and improved patient care and safety. Seventeen of 20 respondents reported that they would like to continue using Listrunner(©) as a check-out tool. CONCLUSIONS: The Listrunner(©) application was adopted quickly by our orthopaedic trauma team, whose members opined that the application increased the efficiency and accuracy of handoff when compared to the previous secure email system.