Sharpening Clinical Communication Strategies for Better Care

Clear communication and real-time collaboration are critical to delivering lifesaving healthcare. From landline phones and public address systems to pagers and smartphones, clinical communication and collaboration (CC&C) has undergone major shifts, especially over the past few decades.

But communicating and collaborating in a healthcare setting can be disjointed and inflexible, depending on the approach, which can impact how clinicians treat patients. Breakdowns in communication for example, doctors missing key alerts or nurses failing to share important patient information during shift changes can affect clinician workflows, and this ultimately impacts patient care.

Since 2012, smartphones have been the top device supported by healthcare organizations, according to an annual survey, with Wi-Fi phones and tablets taking the second and third place slots, respectively, as pager usage drops. Healthcare organizations seeking solutions that foster better mobility and productivity should make sure their CC&C approach supports those goals.