If electronic health record (EHR) systems falter, your handoff process’s strength determines if patient care remains seamless. It also determines if it slips through the cracks. Integrate downtime preparedness steps into every routine handoff. This approach ensures outages are not an afterthought. It transforms shift changes into resilience-building opportunities. Below, discover how to turn handoffs into proactive readiness checks.

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Why Downtime-Ready Handoffs Matter

• Unpredictable Outages: Downtime can be announced or sudden; if your team isn’t primed, critical information may be lost.
• Verbal and Paper Reliance: When systems fail, what you say becomes the single source of truth. What you write on paper also becomes the single source of truth.
• Risk Mitigation: Embedding simple checks in handoffs reduces medication errors, missed assessments, and communication breakdowns.

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1. Preparing Before the Handoff

1.1 Verify Your Toolkit

• Locate Downtime Binders: Know the exact spot for SBAR forms, medication administration records (MARs), vital-sign logs, and order sheets.
• Check Supplies: Confirm pens, patient labels, and quick-reference job aids (e.g., paper flowcharts) are available and stocked.

1.2 Self-Checklist

• Quickly run through a mental or printed checklist. Ask yourself, “Do I know where to find each hard-copy form? Do I know how to use them if the EHR is unavailable?”
• Flag any missing items on the unit board or notify the charge nurse immediately.

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2. During Every Handoff: Core Verification

1. Share a Full, Verbal Summary
   • Provide a concise overview of diagnoses, recent changes, and care plans. If the EHR goes offline, your words are all that’s known.
2. Highlight High-Risk Patients & Pending Tasks
   • Call out unstable patients, critical medication timings, and upcoming interventions.
   • Use a visual cue (e.g., colored tab on the unit board) to mark these priorities.
3. Keep Paper Tools Within Reach
   • Confirm the incoming nurse can immediately access downtime forms. Ensure they know the binder location and form names.

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3. Best Practices When Giving Handover

1. Write Down Key Information
   • Build a running written summary as you prepare. Cover patient identifiers and MD orders. Include upcoming tasks and safety concerns.
   • Number or timestamp your notes to mirror your shift workflow.
2. Call Out Critical Timings & Tasks
   • Clearly specify when next meds, labs, or assessments are due.
   • Emphasize any tasks that must happen before the next routine check.
3. Ensure Downtime Tools Are Present
   • Before concluding, verify the incoming nurse has key forms. They should also have access to extra copies if needed.

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4. Best Practices When Taking Handover

1. Take Active, Handwritten Notes
   • Record every detail on paper as you listen. Bullet points, timestamps, and patient room numbers become your guide.
2. Locate Paper Packs & Charts
   • Immediately pull the downtime binder, SBAR forms, and medication logs to your station.
   • Keep them organized in a labeled folder or clipboard.
3. Identify High-Risk Patients
   • Confirm who needs the closest monitoring and annotate your notes with visual markers (e.g., a star next to the patient’s name).

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5. Embedding Readiness into Your Culture

• Micro-Drills: Spend 2–3 minutes in daily huddles confirming ready status for random beds. build muscle memory.
• Orientation & Mentorship: Teach new hires that every handoff includes a downtime check. Pair them with seasoned staff for early modeling.
• Visual Reminders: Post “Downtime Ready” icons on shift boards when tools are confirmed; celebrate 100% readiness to reinforce the habit.

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Conclusion

Transform your handoffs into proactive defense against unexpected system outages. Weave simple preparedness steps into every shift change. Use verbal summaries, paper-tool checks, and detailed notes. Include high-risk flags. This approach ensures your team maintains care continuity. It minimizes errors and upholds patient safety, even when the screens go dark.

Ready for a quick-start guide? Download our Handoff Downtime Checklist to embed these practices into your next handoff. This will keep care on track, no matter what.