Great communication is crucial in the high-stakes world of modern medicine, with the ability for doctors and nurses to work together fundamental to the successful treatment of patients.  Indeed, poor communication is one of the main reasons for mistakes being made on wards around the world.

New research from the University of Michigan explains why this breakdown occurs.  The study saw interactions between doctors and nurses monitored, before then viewed back and critiqued by the teams involved.  The researchers believe that the best way to become aware of your habits is to watch yourself.  The team tracked a team of doctors and nurses at Michigan Medicine before asking each participant to watch and comment on the footage separately, before then watching the footage alongside the comments collectively.

A number of key themes emerged that help to explain any poor communication on the ward.  For instance, the traditional hospital hierarchy was a major factor, with nurses feeling disempowered to speak up and tell the truth to doctors.

This often resulted in nurses communicating indirectly to express their needs to doctors, which often resulted in confusion among the doctors who would subsequently ignore the requests made by the nurses rather than seek clarification.  The data also found that doctors and nurses tend to approach patient care from different angles, which can exacerbate any misunderstandings.

Good communication

As is so often the case in good communication, the video footage found that when things were going well on the ward, the body language of the doctor and nurse would mimic each other, which was not the case when communication was strained.

The researchers say that the interactions were largely positive, but that they still believe there is clear room for improvement.

“One physician says, ‘I didn’t give the nurse a chance to answer,’ and this physician had a habit of doing that and recognized it,” they explain. “She was one of the champions of the study.”

Suffice to say, the study was conducted on a relatively small group so it’s risky to draw too wide a conclusion from it, but the researchers hope to scale up the research to a larger group and see if similar conclusions emerge.