I-PASS Handoff Structure
Lays out a handoff in the I-PASS structure and reports which parts are blank.
Open the tool → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Illness severity
- Watcher - not unstable, but a patient to worry about
- Patient summary
- Post-op day 1, chest pressure overnight, telemetry unchanged.
- Action list
- Repeat troponin at 06:00, night nurse to send.
- Situation awareness and contingency planning
- If the pressure returns or the rhythm changes, page the on-call team.
Result: not finished, because the receiver has not summarized it back
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- I
- Illness severity: stable, watcher, or unstable.
- P
- Patient summary: the summary statement, events leading to admission, hospital course, ongoing assessment and plan.
- A
- Action list: what is to be done, by when, and by whom.
- S
- Situation awareness and contingency planning: what to watch for, and what to do if it happens.
- S
- Synthesis by the receiver: the receiver summarizes it back, asks questions, and restates the key actions.
- The second S
- The part that gets dropped and the part the evidence rests on. A handoff is finished when the receiver has said it back, not when the sender stops talking.
What you enter
- Illness severity
- Patient summary: summary statement, events leading to admission, hospital course, ongoing assessment, plan
- Action list: what is to be done, by when, and by whom
- Situation awareness and contingency planning: what to watch for, and what to do if it happens
- Synthesis by the receiver: what the receiver said back
How this is calculated
Starmer AJ, Spector ND, Srivastava R, et al. Changes in medical errors after implementation of a resident handoff bundle. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(19):1803-1812. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.