Review the transfer timeline and identify the unresolved accountability risk before the client leaves the unit.
Trend
Choose your responses, then check the answer.
Explanation
A handoff transfers information together with accountability and responsibility. A note that a complete blood count is pending is not enough when no clinician has accepted responsibility for reviewing the result and acting on recurrent bleeding. The nurses should identify the accountable clinician, state when the result is expected, communicate the response and escalation thresholds, and confirm acceptance with check-back. If safe ownership cannot be established, the transfer should pause while the gap is escalated. Silently assuming that someone will see the result creates a preventable loss of follow-up.
Correct Answer The unresolved trend is a transfer-of-accountability gap for a time-sensitive pending laboratory result.
Why It Fits The transfer time approaches while the repeat hemoglobin has no named owner, review time, or escalation plan.
Clinical Picture The receiving nurse's check-back reveals the ambiguity before the client physically leaves the sending unit.
Memory Link Pending means named owner, time, threshold, and check-back.
NCLEX Rule A handoff is not complete until responsibility is communicated, accepted, and confirmed.
Why the Alternatives Fail Relying on an unsigned note, asking the family to monitor the result, or transferring first and assigning ownership later does not close the safety gap.
Sources
1AHRQ TeamSTEPPS Communication Module
2AHRQ TeamSTEPPS Check-Back Tool
3NCSBN 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan
Transfer to a rehabilitation facilityAn older adult was treated for an upper gastrointestinal bleed. The hemoglobin stabilized after transfusion, and a repeat complete blood count is scheduled shortly after the planned transfer. The sending and receiving nurses review the handoff.
Handoff — A transfer of information, authority, accountability, and responsibility during a transition in care.
Check-back — Closed-loop confirmation in which the receiver repeats key information and the sender verifies understanding.
Pending result — A test result not yet available that still requires a named reviewer, expected time, and response plan.