Are End-of-Rotation Resident Transitions of Care Dangerous?

Transitions of patient care, including handoffs, are associated with adverse patient outcomes, but scant evidence has been collected on the relation between end-of-rotation resident transitions and patient outcomes (Acad Med 2009; 84:1775). In a retrospective cohort study, researchers examined data from >230,000 patients at 10 university-associated Veterans Affairs hospitals in which interns (first-year residents) and upper-level residents managed patients under attending-physician supervision. Patients who were admitted just prior to an end-of-rotation resident transition and were discharged or died within 7 days following that transition (transition group) were compared with all other discharged patients (control group).

In analyses adjust…