A review of this literature yields

A review of this literature yields four significant conclusions: (1) the definition of the handoff concept in the literature is poorly delimited; (2) the meaning of ‘to standardise’ has not been developed with adequate clarity; (3) the literature shows that handoffs perform important functions beyond patient safety, but the tradeoffs of these functions against safety considerations are not analysed; (4) studies so far do not fully establish that attempts at handoff standardisation have produced marked gains in measured patient outcomes.