title: Correlations of nursing communication network metrics with patient outcomes.
abstract: Communication problems have been implicated in many safety and quality issues, but tools to examine communication networks and their impact on patient outcomes are only beginning to become available. We used *ORA, an organizational risk analyzer that allows the dynamic analysis of organizational networks to explore the communication networks among staff on seven nursing units in three Arizona hospitals. The results showed correlations between a number of *ORA metrics and patient safety and quality outcomes. *ORA provides researchers another way to study the influence of communication among staff on patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: The University of Arizona College of Nursing, Tucson, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Effken
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gephart
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bianchi
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verran
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D061214:Patient Safety