Go to content

Communication channels in general internal medicine: a description of baseline patterns for improved interprofessional collaboration

Share

General internal medicine (GIM) is a communicatively complex specialty because of its diverse patient population and the number and diversity of healthcare providers working on a medicine ward. Effective interprofessional communication in such information-intensive environments is critical to achieving optimal patient care. Few empirical studies have explored the ways in which health professionals exchange patient information and the implications of their chosen communication forms.

In this article, the authors report on an ethnographic study of health professionals' communication in two GIM wards through the lens of communication genre theory. They categorize and explore communication in GIM into two genre sets-synchronous and asynchronous-and analyze the relationship between them. Our findings reveal an essential relationship between synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication that has implications for the effectiveness of interprofessional collaboration in this and similar healthcare settings, and is intended to inform efforts to overcome existing interprofessional communication barriers.

Information

Citation

Conn LG, Lingard L, Reeves S, Miller KL, Russell A, Zwarenstein M. Qual Health Res. 2009; 19(7):943-53. Epub 2009 May 27.

Contributing ICES Scientists

Research Programs

Associated Sites