Fumbled Handoffs

Tejal K. Gandhi

doi:10.7326/0003-4819-143-7-200510040-00016

Letters |4 October 2005

Fumbled Handoffs

Tejal K. Gandhi, MD, MPH

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IN RESPONSE:

Like Dr. Rastegar, I too am a primary care physician and agree that this role is essential in ensuring continuity and quality of care. However, even if a primary care physician had been the only provider involved in the case I discussed in my article, the test result may not have been seen, especially since many primary care physicians are dissatisfied with their systems for tracking test results (1). If the patient's own primary care physician had cared for him in the hospital, perhaps that physician would have remembered the previous outpatient evaluation. However, having systems to ensure that outside records are available is still essential, since it is difficult for any primary care physician to remember the details of every patient seen. Furthermore, we have to acknowledge that many primary care physicians now use the hospitalist model because of time constraints, competing demands, and evidence for improved quality of care (2). Therefore, we need strategies to improve the hospitalist model and the resulting handoffs in care (3).

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2005 American College of Physicians

Letters |4 October 2005

Fumbled Handoffs

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Fumbled Handoffs

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