“PSYCH-PASS”: the Development, Adaptation, and Implementation of a Psychiatric Handoff

Objective: The primary purpose of the study was to develop and implement a psychiatry mnemonic PSYCH-PASS for transitions of care in residency training programs. Methods: The authors examined areas of improvement in the handoff system with residency training administration, service directors, and psychiatry residents to create PSYCH-PASS, a novel mnemonic that could be integrated in the electronic medical record (EMR). The components of PSYCH-PASS are Patient summary, Situational awareness, “whY” is the patient here, Comorbidities, Hemodynamics, Pharmacology/PRNs, Action list, Specifics, and Synthesis. The authors developed a 14 question pre- and post-survey with a 4-point Likert scale measuring five categories. Results: Pre-survey and post-surveys completed by post-graduate year 2 and 3 residents at Montefiore Medical Center (n = 24) noted increased satisfaction, handoff efficiency, handoff efficiency, accessibility, accuracy, communication, awareness, and adherence to PSYCH-PASS, along with a decrease in frequency of errors. Conclusions: With promising results across a range of metrics indicating resident-reported positive impacts on patient care, further research on the implementation of PSYCH-PASS and its integration into EMR systems is merited. Future directions include gathering objective data from Epic and expansion of the initiative to other psychiatric services and institutions.