Interconnected: An Exploration of Improvement Efforts Connecting Patient Experience and Communication

Published in collaboration with the Academy of Communication in Healthcare, this paper explores the state of interpersonal physician communication practices in relationship to the patient experience outcomes in U.S. healthcare organizations from data collected through an online survey with 112 respondents and qualitative insights from selected phone interviews.

This paper focuses on understanding the present state of communication effectiveness within the patient experience context for doctors, nurses and teams, evaluates the success of efforts to address communication and elaborates on key points addressed in this study, including:

• Perceived barriers to effective communication for clinicians
• Impact of culture and diversity on organizational communication outcomes
• Identified communication solutions

With special guest commentary from Calvin Chou, Professor of Clinical Medicine at University of California San Francisco and Staff Physician at VA Medical Center, San Francisco, the paper also provides considerations for action as healthcare organizations seek to drive positive patient, family, staff and caregiver experience through communication improvements.