Communication and Complexity: Negotiating Transitions in Critical Care

There is considerable truth to the old adage that successful conversation will take you very far. Of course, the proposition is more complex when applied to the healthcare system. Hospital institutions are complex structures that use a multilayered approach and employ multiple modes of communication in caring for patients including paging systems, telephones, e-mail, fax, and face-to-face interactions [1]. It is reasonable to propose that electronic health records constitute another medium of communication although a decidedly less than optimal one at this point in time. However, the patient care process in ICU relies heavily on face-to-face verbal exchange [2]. It has been reported that clinicians devote 50—60 % of clinical time to talk in ICU settings.

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