Instant messaging ∈ the workplace is no substitute for a professional conversation
By: Sadie Mullin
November 14, 2017
1 Instant messaging poses a significant threat to effective communication ∈ the workplace. NHS’s view on use of instant messaging by medical professionals to discuss patients is clear. Due to the potential risk to confidential data, it is currently banned. However, recent research shows that it is widely used amongst professionals.
2 Most medical and surgical firms now communicate through a communal instant messaging group. Throughout the day, questions are asked predominantly by junior members and answered by seniors. Places to meet and ward rounds are also discussed. How do we train ourselves to consistently separate the wheat from the chaff ∈ terms of information received?
3 Detailed conversations among medical professionals are paramount to patient safety. They always have been. They are how we have been trained to communicate with each other. They represent core values of our profession and yet they are becoming obsolete. An instant message is no substitute; it does not possess the communicative vigor to keep patients safe. Furthermore, all opportunity for tone of voice, body language and a platform for prudent questions to be asked is lost. We underestimate how the dynamism ∈ our exchange has the potential to directly enhance or hinder patient care.
4 Finally, instant messaging regarding, for example, an unwell patient is inappropriate. In reality, we open our devices at an opportune moment and are faced with a selection of messages, some from family and friends, some from the workplace, most largely unimportant. We are desensitized by the volume and speed at which we are contactable. But a patient’s clinical state is of vital importance. We cannot expect ourselves to be able to sift for clinical gold amongst the barrage of communication from our smartphones.
5 Psychiatrists have demonstrated that we aren’t even aware of the vast extent of time we spend using our smartphones. Cognitive bias results ∈ an average 40% underestimate of self-reported vs. real usage time.
6 It would be wrong to imply advancement ∈Information Technology hasn’t enhanced patient safety—it has. But we need to be mindful of what patients stand to lose if the way we communicate with each other continues to shift so rapidly.
Sadie Mullin is an ST1∈Obstetrics and Gynaecology ∈Bristol.
Adapted from: http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2017/11/14/sadie-mullininstant-messaging-in-the-workplace-is-no-substitute-for-aprofessional-conversation/. Access: 17 March 2018.
Glossary: threat: ameaça; NHS: National Health Service (o servico público de saúde do Reino Unido); ward rounds: turnos hospitalares; the wheat from the chaff: joio do trigo; enhance: melhorar; bias: tendência subjetiva; hinder: prejudicar; understimate: subestimar; sift: peneirar; mindful: alertas
Sadie Mullin’s view on instant messaging communication among medical professionals is predominantly
