Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
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Creation of a Culture of Safety: Communication in Healthcare
8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
November 9, 2007
Lydia L. Forsythe, PhD, RN CNOR
Director OSF Healthcare, St. Anthony Medical Center
Assistant Professor St. Anthony College of Nursing
6168 Weeping Willow LN,
Roscoe, IL, 61073, USA
1.815.227.2185
Lydia.forsythe@osfhealthcare.org
Londes@cs.com
Abstract
Over 4000 wrong-site surgeries occur each year within the
United States, and the number is rising. In an attempt to reduce
that number, healthcare professionals are trying to establish a
“Culture of Safety” in which operating room communication is clear,
precise, and has a sense of conjoint meaning-making among team
participants.
This study described communication patterns among team
members in an operating room in an acute care medical center. The
participants included nurses, physicians, technologists, and nonclinical
personnel. Drawing on ideas from the traditions of
ethnography and narrative interviewing, the data were analyzed
both by thematic coding and using some of the heuristics from the
theory of the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM).
The themes revealed that to develop a culture of safety, the
healthcare environment and team relationships needs to be free of
intimidation and avoidance, where communication flows openly and
that all of the voices on the team need to be heard in an
atmosphere of equality. Most important in the creation of a culture
of safety, is that patients should always be the prime focus of all
team members.
The findings suggest that to develop a culture of safety,
professionals in healthcare need to increase their abilities to
partner, trust each other as a care delivery team, treat each other
with respect, and to develop collaborative meaning making in an
effort to deliver safe patient care.
Healthcare Communication and the Creation of a Culture of Safety
The Study: Healthcare Communication and the Operating Room
Team
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