ArticleBMJ open quality2025
Technology-based challenges of informal clinical communication in an Australian tertiary referral hospital: a survey-based assessment of user perspectives.
Article in BMJ open quality, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Shoulder-to-shoulder: healthcare professionals' experiences of learning during electronic health record implementation in municipal primary care.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Nurses' Adoption, Perceived Usability, and Satisfaction with an Updated Electronic Handover Page Within the Electronic Medical Record: A Mixed-Methods Study.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Article
- Development and evaluation of a 4M taxonomy from nursing home staff text messages using a fine-tuned generative language model.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundClinical communication failures result in errors, misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment and poor care. Communication errors contribute to sentinel events and are an underlying factor in healthcare system issues.Formal clinical communication (FCC) tools, such as ISBAR (Identify, Situation, Background, Assessment, Response/Recommendation), improve patient outcomes. FCC governance is focused on electronic medical records (EMRs); however, much informal clinical communication (ICC) occurs outside of the EMR.ICC involves disparate platforms including pagers, SMS texts, encrypted messaging apps, phones and local radio networks. Documentation of ICC in the clinical record is low quality and not easily or routinely audited. LOCAL PROBLEM: In 2019, our institution commenced a clinical governance assessment of ICC processes against version 2, Australian National Accreditation Standards for clinical communications. Process mapping of ICC indicated a paucity of relevant policy and procedures to govern ICC practices, with highly variable and overly complex processes.
aimsTo document the technology used in informal communication between clinical and/or administrative staff.To document the self-perceived impact on staff of current communications methods.To document the self-perceived potential efficiency and safety impact of current communications methods.To identify key factors for consideration in organisation-wide informal clinical communication improvement.
methodMultidisciplinary online staff cross-sectional survey using Microsoft Forms.
results115 self-selected clinical and administrative staff completed the survey. Multiple communication channels are used for ICC. Respondents noted high levels of frustration, delay, interruption and inefficiency. Desired communication improvements and use considerations were identified.
conclusionsThere are gaps in governance standards for ICC. Sequential additions to technology platforms contribute to a high-risk communications environment. Staff perceptions of inefficiency, delay, frustration and a high level of patient safety risk were consistent across professions. This work informed the requirements for a subsequent development of an enterprise platform dedicated to improving ICC.
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Registered trials
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