Objective: The aim of this study was to explore differences in the verbal content of handovers and rounds conducted in uni- and interdisciplinary social contexts. We expected higher proportions of goals to be articulated during interdisciplinary rounds. Background: Lack of explanatory connections between round improvement initiatives and outcomes suggest insufficient understanding about health care communications, especially the role of social interaction. Methods: The recognition-primed abstract decomposition space (RP-ADS) was used to analyze the information content of nurse handovers and morning rounds in a unidisciplinary- (physicians only) and an interdisciplinary-round intensive care unit (ICU). Data were collected using audio recordings of rounds and handovers for five patients for 5 days each in both ICUs. Results: Hierarchical log-linear analyses show strong associations between events (medical rounds vs. nurses’ shift handovers), type (uni- vs. interdisciplinary), and focus (levels of the RP-ADS) with highly significant combined two-way and higher-order interactions, LRχ2(df = 4) = 30.91, p < .0001. All tests of partial association were also highly significant. Differences among levels of the variables were evaluated using standardized residuals. Conclusion: Nurses focused on RP-ADS data and intervention levels, whereas physicians focused on diagnoses and expectations. Clinical goals that integrate these orientations emerged to a greater extent in interdisciplinary rounds. In addition, social context of rounds appears to influence nurse handovers. Unidisciplinary ICU nurse handovers consisted of a series of data-and intervention-related observations, whereas ICU nurse handovers in interdisciplinary ICUs tended to integrate data, interventions and clinical goals. Application: These results are relevant to the design and implementation of clinical communication improvement initiatives and support tools.
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