Clinical communication: Human-computer and human-human interactions

Abstract

In 2006, health care in the United States encompassed 14 million professionals [1]. Such a large and complex network of employees introduces many challenges and limitations to the communication process. This research is a continuation of our efforts towards further understanding clinical communication by studying previously utilized methodologies in this field and then, proposing our new approach and its innovation. Moreover, in this paper, we discuss our results from a pilot study conducted at the Pulmonary ICU at the University of Missouri Hospital. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop a practical clinical communication model that identifies influencing communication factors. This model will serve as the foundation to our long term goal of building an ontology-driven educational tool that will be used to educate clinicians about miscommunication issues and as a means to improve it. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.