Healthcare’s Silent Struggle: The Prevalence and Impact of Communication Noise
Effective communication is the backbone of patient care, yet in today’s healthcare settings, communication breakdowns are all too common. These disruptions, or “communication noise,” can compromise patient outcomes and contribute to clinician burnout.
A recent survey conducted by TigerConnect in partnership with Becker’s Healthcare examined the prevalence of communication challenges among nurses, clinicians, and executives. The aim was to explore the hypothesis that:
- Communication glitches and disconnects are universal.
- These issues occur with alarming frequency.
- They directly impact patient care and contribute to the burnout cycle in healthcare professionals.
Unfortunately, the findings confirmed each part of this hypothesis. Below is an overview of the key insights from the survey, with deeper analysis of the data to follow in upcoming discussions.
Identifying the “Communication Noise”
In the era of analog communication technology, such as old phone lines and radio systems, static often interfered with the clarity of messages. Similarly, communication noise in modern healthcare settings can overwhelm signals and cause significant disruptions. This “noise” exists in every hospital, often unnoticed, yet it continuously hampers the efficiency of critical communications.
The survey specifically explored seven categories of communication challenges, asking 140 healthcare professionals how often they encountered these issues during a typical shift. The categories included:
- Searching for contacts
- Mis-contacting people
- Waiting for responses and results
- Switching between systems
- Interruptions in delivering care
- Sifting through information
- Deciding on treatment with limited information
These categories reflect systemic issues within healthcare communication. Each glitch, no matter how small, contributes to the overall communication noise experienced during a typical shift, hindering timely and effective patient care.
The Ubiquity of Communication Noise
Communication noise is not an isolated issue; it affects nearly every healthcare professional across various environments. The survey gathered responses primarily from large health systems and nonprofit hospitals, with additional input from academic centers, community hospitals, rural facilities, and other specialized healthcare organizations.
The participants represented a wide range of roles, with physicians, nurses, and their leadership teams making up the bulk of respondents. The survey also included C-suite executives, CIOs, case managers, and other specialized professionals. All respondents were asked to rate their experience with communication challenges during a typical shift using a five-point scale from ‘Very Frequently’ to ‘Never’.
The results were telling: every clinician surveyed encountered these issues at least “sometimes” during their shift, with many reporting frequent disruptions.
Key Findings from the Survey
Several statistics from the survey illustrate the pervasiveness of communication noise in healthcare:
- 86% of respondents must switch between multiple systems to either initiate or receive communications, with 45% stating this occurs frequently.
- 76% of respondents struggle to find the right person during a shift, and 20% experience this frequently.
- Two-thirds of clinicians receive alerts, notifications, and messages lacking enough information to make actionable decisions.
- Nurses face an overwhelming number of communication tools and methods, including outdated technology such as pagers and faxes, to reach the correct clinician or resource.
Standardizing communication platforms, like TigerConnect, can significantly reduce the noise in healthcare settings. By integrating with existing electronic health record (EHR) systems, TigerConnect maximizes the effectiveness of EHR investments. Additionally, workflow mapping can help identify the root causes of communication noise and provide solutions for smoother, more efficient communication processes.
To learn more about the full results of the Becker’s survey, download this infographic.
Featured Resources
Related Articles
State of Healthcare Collaboration: How Communication Inefficiencies Impact Clinician Productivity
Discover what healthcare professionals have to say about communication inefficiencies.