Abstract
A handoff, in lay terms, refers to the act or instance of handing or transferring something to another person (to complete/to do). For instance, you hand the baton off to the next runner in a relay race. Handoffs are an everyday yet essential process in high-reliability, safety-critical settings that operate around the clock, such as between shifts at space shuttle mission controls [1, 2], nuclear power plants [3], railroad dispatch centers [4] and hospitals [5]. Regardless of the type of setting, a well-executed handoff process helps to maintain the continuity of work across shifts and between workers.
Portions of this chapter has been adapted from Abraham et al. Bridging gaps in handoffs: A continuity of care based approach, Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 45(2), 240–54, with permissions from Elsevier.
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Abraham, J., Almoosa, K.F. (2014). Falling Through the Cracks: Investigation of Care Continuity in Critical Care Handoffs. In: Patel, V., Kaufman, D., Cohen, T. (eds) Cognitive Informatics in Health and Biomedicine. Health Informatics. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5490-7_12
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