Horizontal communication flows amon

Horizontal communication flows among managers and workers who are at the same organizational level, such as when a day shift nurse comes in at 7:30 am for a half-hour discussion with the midnight nurse supervisor who leaves at 8:00 am. Horizontal communication helps facilitate coordination and cooperation between different parts of a company and allows coworkers to share relevant information. It also helps people at the same level resolve conflicts and solve problems without involving high levels of management. Studies show that communication breakdowns, which occur most often during horizontal communication, such as when patients are handed over from one nurse or doctor to another, are the largest source of medical errors in hospitals. Different communication styles, time pressures, and a general lack of standardized procedures for sharing information during patient handoffs are the likely causes. Medical organizations like Kaiser Permanente, which has 30 patient care facilities, are changing that by requiring all of its doctors and nurses to communicate SBAR information (situation, background, assessment, and recommendation) about each patient in 60 seconds. Since its adoption at Kaiser’s St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, Illinois, the number of unexpected medical problems fell from 89.9 per 1,000 patient days to 39.6 per 1,000 patient days. Using the SBAR protocol significantly reduces the horizontal communication problems associated with patient handoffs.