Nurse and Physician Perceptions and Decision Making During Interdisciplinary Communication: Factors That Influence Communication Channel Selection.

Errors in decision making and communication play a key role in poor patient outcomes. Safe patient care requires effective decision making during interdisciplinary communication through communication channels. Research on factors that influence nurse and physician decision making during interdisciplinary communication is limited. Understanding influences on nurse and physician decision making during communication channel selection is needed to support effective communication and improved patient outcomes. The purpose of the study was to explore nurse and physician perceptions of and decision-making processes for selecting interruptive or noninterruptive interdisciplinary communication channels in medical-surgical and intermediate acute care settings. Twenty-six participants (10 RNs, 10 resident physicians, and six attending physicians) participated in semistructured interviews in two acute care metropolitan hospitals for this qualitative descriptive study. The Practice Primed Decision Model guided interview question development and early data analysis. Findings include a core category, Development of Trust in the Communication Process, supported by three main themes: (1) Understanding of Patient Status Drives Communication Decision Making; (2) Previous Interdisciplinary Communication Experience Guides Channel Selection; and (3) Perceived Usefulness Influences Communication Channel Selection. Findings from this study provide support for future design and research of communication channels within the EHR and clinical decision support systems.

Actionable reminders did not improve performance over passive reminders for overdue tests in the primary care setting.

Actionable reminders (electronic reminders linked to computerized order entry) might improve care by facilitating direct ordering of recommended tests. The authors implemented four enhanced actionable reminders targeting performance of annual mammography, one-time bone-density screening, and diabetic testing. There was no difference in rates of appropriate testing between the four intervention and four matched, control primary care clinics for screening mammography (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.64 to 1.02), bone-density exams (OR 1.29, 95% CI 0.82 to 2.02), HbA1c monitoring (OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.58 to 1.42) and LDL cholesterol monitoring (OR 1.40, 95% CI 0.76 to 2.59). Of the survey respondents, 79% almost never used the system or were unaware of the functionality. In the 9/228 (3.9%) cases with indirect evidence of mammography reminder use, there was a significantly lower proportion with test performance. Our actionable reminders did not improve receipt of overdue testing, potentially due to limitations of workflow integration.