ERcast: Clinical Perspectives Podcast Preview
The summary below is from an episode of ERcast: Clinical Perspectives
Emergency department sign-out is a patient-safety intervention, not clerical cleanup. High-quality handoffs reduce dropped tasks, missed deterioration, and ownership confusion while keeping end-of-shift transitions efficient in a busy ED.
Safer Emergency Department Sign-Out
- Shared mental model: A strong handoff makes illness severity, likely trajectory, and the next critical decision explicit so the oncoming clinician is not guessing what matters most.
- Pending task clarity: Outstanding labs, imaging, consultant calls, and reassessment triggers should be assigned clearly because ambiguous to-do lists are where ED handoffs fail.
- Contingency planning language: The safest sign-out includes anticipated forks in the road such as expected improvement versus likely admission, with practical wording we lay out in the episode.
- Ownership transfer moment: Sign-out works best when responsibility changes hands at a defined point, reducing the common hazard of two clinicians assuming the other is following up.
- Efficiency without shortcuts: Concise handoffs beat exhaustive recaps when they foreground the active problem, disposition barrier, and single next action. We get into what that sounds like on the show.
Subscribe to ERcast: Clinical Perspectives to listen to the episode.
Faculty
- Drew Kalnow, DO
Dr. Drew Kalnow is an emergency medicine physician and educator based in Columbus, Ohio. He completed his emergency medicine training at OhioHealth Doctors Hospital Emergency Medicine Residency. Dr. Kalnow is passionate about advancing emergency medicine through high-quality education, with a particular focus on simulation, learning theory, and innovative teaching.
- Andy Little, DO
Dr. Andy Little is an emergency medicine physician and educator. He earned his medical degree from the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his emergency medicine residency at OhioHealth Doctors Hospital Emergency Medicine Residency, where he served as Chief Resident. He has received multiple national awards, including recognition from the American Osteopathic Association, American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians, and Emergency Medicine Residents' Association.
- Matthew DeLaney, MD, FACEP, FAAEM
Dr. Matthew DeLaney is an emergency medicine physician and educator based in Birmingham, Alabama. A native of Mobile, he earned his medical degree from the University of South Alabama and completed his emergency medicine residency at Maine Medical Center.Dr. DeLaney has experience in both community and academic emergency medicine and is known for his commitment to teaching and medical education. He lives in Birmingham with his wife, Erin, who is also a physician, and their two daughters.
