Resident-physician care teams were established based on specific inpatient units so that residents admitted and cared only for patients in their assigned unit. Main outcomes measured were physician and nurse self-reports of communication practices and frequency of pages residents received. As a means of comparison, researchers collected data before and two times after implementing unit-based teams.
Results showed physicians in unit-based teams were more likely to identify the nurse responsible for the patients with the most complex conditions. Physicians in unit-based teams were also more likely to communicate with nurse in person and to believe their patient care concerns were met. Similarly, nurses reported improvements in communication patterns. The mean number of pages per day to residents also decreased by 42.1 percent.
Read the study about unit-based care teams.
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