title: Associations between perceived crisis mode work climate and poor information exchange within hospitals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Because hospital units operating in crisis mode could create unsafe transitions of care due to miscommunication, our objective was to estimate associations between perceived crisis mode work climate and patient information exchange problems within hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-reported data from 247,140 hospital staff members across 884 hospitals were obtained from the 2010 Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Presence of a crisis mode work climate was defined as respondents agreeing that the hospital unit in which they work tries to do too much too quickly. Presence of patient information exchange problems was defined as respondents agreeing that problems often occur in exchanging patient information across hospital units. Multivariable ordinal regressions estimated the likelihood of perceived problems in exchanging patient information across hospital units, controlling for perceived levels of crisis mode work climate, skill levels, work climate, and hospital infrastructure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to those disagreeing, hospital staff members agreeing that the hospital unit in which they work tries to do too much too quickly were 1.6 times more likely to perceive problems in exchanging patient information across hospital units (odds ratio: 1.6, 95% confidence interval: 1.58-1.65).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hospital staff members perceiving crisis mode work climates within their hospital unit are more likely to perceive problems in exchanging patient information across units, underscoring the need to improve communication during transitions of care.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy, Kansas City, Missouri.
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: Miller S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bogart
authors.forename: Kathleen R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Starr
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D000067498:Crew Resource Management, Healthcare / Q000592:standards; D066275:Health Information Exchange / Q000592:standards*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000592:standards; D010465:Perception; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*