Ineffective team communication is frequently at the root of medical error, but little is known about the specific ways in which communication fails.
This observational study in the British Medical Journal:
https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/qhc/13/5/330.full.pdf
classified four types of communication failure: occasion (suboptimal timing), content (insufficiencies or inaccuracies), purpose (lack of resolution), and audience (gaps in group composition).
Communication failures occurred in approximately 30% of team exchanges.
The most frequently observed communication failures were exchanges that happened too late to be maximally useful and exchanges that were incomplete because relevant information was missing.
One third of communication failures had immediate effects such as inefficiency and team tension.....
One way to help improve communication is to know the names and roles of the people in our team. Our name & role TheatreCaps will certainly make this easier.
Check out our range at TheatreCaps.com
Theatre Caps 'Patients are extremely supportive of name and role theatre caps believing it to be a good idea that will make them feel safe and re-assured during their peri-operative experience.' This was the conclusion of a survey of 129 patients performed at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK. 95% of patients indicated it's a good idea, 95% of patients indicated it would help them understand who is looking after them, 95% of patients indicated they would find this reassuring during their visit. These were some of the patients comments: 'I think it is a fabulous idea as when the staff introduce themselves you often forget, it’s nice to be able to use people’s names it makes you feel less nervous.' 'As an older person who can’t remember names and feels embarrassed about this it would help me and lots like me, thank you.' 'Magic!''A definite yes as you could recognise trained nurses from healthcares porters and anyone else who wears scrubs around the hospital.' 'It’s a very good idea.' 'A great idea, would make patients feel safe and know who they were talking to.' 'Very good idea.' 'I think this is a good idea.' 'It is easier to see the name on a hat than on a badge as badges are not always visible, a hat is eye level' 'Nurses usually introduce themselves when they meet you and have some tags anyway but it wouldn’t do any harm having names on hats and it may stand out more.' 'Different colour uniforms are confusing, love this idea!!' 'I think that this would be a good idea as you can identify people who are dealing with you and I think that it makes a more reassuring experience for some people who are afraid or procedures.' 'I think this is a great idea.' 'Very helpful doing a good job thank you.' 'Make it easier to relate to who is treating you.' 'Makes it easier than looking at badges.' 'Help you remember who is looking after you.'
