| Project Name: |
Enhancing Communication |
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| Lead Investigator: |
Dr. Carpendale |
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Innovations for enhancing communication and information flow in asynchronous inter-professional collaboration
The health care setting is typified by a phenomenon of co-located ‘asynchronous inter-professional collaboration’, whereby health care professionals from different disciplines (i.e. physicians, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, etc.) work in close proximity to one another, providing elements of care to the same patients, but often not communicating optimally with one another. Current forms of communication within disciplines include occasional face-to-face communication, sporadic telephone contact, and on-paper message transmission in notes written on the patient record.
Recognizing that such modes of communication may not be optimal, this research will seek to develop approaches (that involve a combination of human factor and technological considerations) to enhancing asynchronous inter-professional collaboration. The research will involve an initial phase of basic observations of the processes and tasks that actually take place on W21C on a day-to-day basis. In this initial phase, formal standardized recording of activities of the various provider groups will be performed, and baseline interviews with providers will inform the research team on providers’ information needs. The information derived from that initial phase will then inform a second phase of interface development for inter-professional collaboration. The ultimate goal of this work will be to inform software and interface development through direct observation of the human beings who would be the ultimate users of any technologies developed from this line of research.
The lead investigator, Dr. Carpendale, is an international expert in the domain of data visualization and human factors, and her recent work in this area has led to the successful development and implementation of novel interfaces – most notably the recent adaptation of Smart board technology to a table format with unique image rotation and mobility capacity. That ‘Smart table’ is one of the technologies that will be assessed in collaboration with co-investigators from the health care sector (White, King, Baylis, and others) as a potential innovation for the health care setting, along with other potential technologies to be considered de novo based on findings in the observational phase of work. The novel interfaces emanating from this work will have the potential to transform the manner in which health care providers communicate with one another in the care of complex patients.
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