Handoffs and Transitions in Care: An Inpatient Perspective

The Hard Facts The 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, To Err Is Human, estimated that 98,000 people die from medical errors each year. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) 5 Million Lives Campaign calculated an approximate 15 million adverse medical events each year, 6 million of which cause harm to the patient that results in a significant deviation in the patient care process.1