title: Gaps in pediatric clinician communication and opportunities for improvement.
abstract: Teamwork and good communication are central to the provision of high-quality care. A standardized focus-group protocol was used. Analysis assessed emergent themes of patient safety-related effective and problematic clinician communication. Sixty-three focus groups were conducted with clinicians from five Chicago Pediatric Patient Safety Consortium hospitals. Effective and problematic clinician-to-clinician communication themes were described in all focus groups and at each participating hospital. Problematic communication contexts included the communication process for orders, consultations, acuity assessment, management of surgical and medical patients, and the discharge process. Organizational policies and systems leading to patient safety risk included a lack of clear responsibilities and expectations for clinicians and for clinical communication, as well as a lack of a clear chain of responsibility for communication when hierarchical communication barriers affected safe patient care. Results of this investigation highlighted gaps in pediatric clinician communication and opportunities for improvement.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Healthcare Studies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. woods@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Donna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: Jane L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Holl
authors.forename: Denise B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Angst
authors.forename: Susan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Echiverri
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Soglin
authors.forename: Gopal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Srinivasan
authors.forename: Laura B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Amsden
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barnathan
authors.forename: Teri
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hason
authors.forename: Leonard
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lamkin
authors.forename: Kevin B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D017144:Focus Groups; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D017751:Safety Management