Interprofessional communication failures in acute care chains: How can we identify the causes?

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Organizational Behavior
• Communication Studies

Background:

• Communication failures among healthcare professionals in acute care settings are a persistent problem.
• Existing explanations for these failures, such as process typology, remain insufficient to fully address the issue.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate interprofessional communication failures in acute care delivery.
• To assess two distinct explanations for these communication failures.
• To explore the role of organizational routines in understanding communication breakdowns.

Main Methods:

• A multiple case study design involving six acute care chains.
• Data collection through semi-structured interviews, physical artifacts, and archival records.
• Analysis using pattern-matching techniques to examine propositions related to care processes and routines.

Main Results:

• Acute care chains were categorized based on standardization and integration levels, with failures occurring in both.
• Communication routines were found to be embedded within organizations, lacking chain-wide descriptions.
• Organizational routines, defined as repetitive action patterns, proved useful in explaining communication failures.

Conclusions:

• Failures in interprofessional communication within acute care chains cannot be solely explained by process typology.
• Organizational routines play a critical role in the occurrence of communication failures.
• Further research into organizational routines is recommended to improve handover practices and mitigate communication failures.