The role of physical design and informal communication

that this occurred frequently throughout a shift, and the GN often asked whoever was
in the med room with her at the time, more often another RN than the Orientor, to
verify her meds. Finally, the fact that the “Nurse” category included interactions with
both RNs and nursing students may help to explain whey over 40% of “Providing
Advice” occurred with nurses. Similarly, over 20% of “Providing Advice” occurred
with members of allied health which included nursing assistants.
Table 12 shows the frequency of task by person when the communication tasks
are grouped as “Procedural” (“Administrative,” “Seeking Assistance,” “Providing
Assistance”) and “Knowledge Transfer” (“Being Taught,” “Discussing Patient Care,”
“Validation,” and “Providing Advice”). As Figure 31 shows, “Knowledge Transfer”
occurred almost equally with nurses and the Orientor, at 38% and 34.4% respectively,
while 14.1% occurred with allied health and 7.2% occurred with doctors.
Table 11 Frequency of task by person
Task Visitor Nurse Doctor
Person
Allied Health Orientor GN
Patient-Interactive 33.1 22.3 10.1 30.4 20.9 4.1
Non-Interactive 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Social 0.7 38.4 4.1 7.5 35.6 9.6
Administrative 0.0 55.2 0.0 20.7 20.7 6.9
Being Taught 0.0 27.3 0.0 18.2 63.3 0.0
Seeking Assistance 0.0 38.1 2.4 21.4 33.3 2.4
Seeking Advice 0.0 42.5 2.5 5.0 45.0 5.0
Discussing Patient Care 2.5 36.4 8.0 13.6 40.7 1.9
Validation 0.0 66.7 0.0 0.0 33.3 0.0
Providing Assistance 0.0 21.6 0.0 0.0 62.2 10.8
Providing Advice 0.0 41.4 10.3 22.4 5.2 5.2
Table 12 Frequency of task by person with tasks grouped to emphasize
knowledge transfer
Task Nurse Doctor
Person
Allied Health Orientor GN
Patient 22.3 10.1 30.4 20.9 4.1
Social 38.4 4.1 7.5 35.6 9.6
Procedural 37.0 0.9 13.9 39.8 6.5
Knowledge Transfer 38 7.2 14.1 34.4 2.9
87