Dedicated Workspace for Co-Located Healthcare Professionals: Affordances for Interprofessional Communication in...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Design
• Interprofessional Communication
• Hospital Management

Background:

• Existing research links healthcare design to nurse communication, but specialized healthcare demands understanding broader interprofessional communication (IPC).
• Increasing specialization in healthcare necessitates examining how physical environments impact collaboration among diverse healthcare professionals (HCPs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the relationship between physical design and interprofessional communication (IPC) in cardiovascular units (CVUs).
• To compare IPC experiences in two distinct hospital designs: rectangular single-corridor design (RSCD) and circular design (CD) with co-located staff spaces.

Main Methods:

• Multi-method study involving seven focus groups with 40 healthcare professionals (HCPs) from 12 professions.
• Observations of face-to-face communication (N=8,978) and analysis of patient records (N=1,930) across two hospital CVUs.
• Thematic qualitative analysis of HCP perceptions regarding design, IPC, and patient care.

Main Results:

• HCPs reported design features both facilitating and hindering IPC.
• Circular design (CD) units with dedicated co-located spaces promoted proximity and IPC, unlike the Rectangular Single-Corridor Design (RSCD) units where distance was a barrier.
• CD units showed significantly more IPC than RSCD units (p < .05), supported by updated technology facilitating communication.

Conclusions:

• Dedicated workspaces for co-located HCPs are crucial for enhancing interprofessional communication and engagement.
• Hospital physical design, including dedicated spaces and technology, significantly influences the effectiveness of interprofessional collaboration and patient care.
• The study highlights the communicative agency of technology within sociotechnical healthcare systems.