Engaging patients, families and professionals at the bedside using whiteboards

ABSTRACT

Health-care systems around the world are striving to be patient-centered, and there is growing evidence that engaging patients and families in their care, as well as in efforts to redesign services, contributes to improved outcomes and experiences for patients and providers. This patient-oriented care movement includes efforts to improve the quality of information and communication between health-care professionals and patients as well as families and caregivers. Whiteboards have emerged as a best practice in hospitals to promote engagement and improve information and communication, yet with limited empirical evidence regarding their value to patients, families, or interprofessional teams. We introduced whiteboards on an acute medical unit at a community hospital and conducted an evaluation using a pre-post design collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. Baseline and post-implementation data were collected via qualitative interviews with patients/family and providers and using the Canadian Patient Experience Survey; focus groups were held with staff and members of the care team. Qualitative results highlighted improvements in communication between the care team and patients as well as family members. Implications for practice include attention to patient/family empowerment and safety, adherence to guidance for good communication, and support for regular training and education in the use of communication tools for members of the interprofessional team.

KEYWORDS:

• Whiteboards
• interprofessional teams
• mixed methods
• patient-centered practice
• action research
• communication

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the patients, family members, and staff on this unit who gave their time generously as partners and participants in the conduct of this study and implementation of findings. Thank you to the members of our project advisory group who contributed their time and expertise, including patient and family collaborators and members of the interprofessional team. We would also like to acknowledge the support of the audiovisual department in the design and production of the whiteboards, the research assistants who supported aspects of this project, as well as the nursing students who, under the leadership of Professors Rosetta Antonacci, Elaine Doucette, Caroline Jean, and Antonina Triassi, supported the design and patient education phases of the study (Carine Beaudoin, Stephanie Derochette-Hebert, Nikki Hiwatig, Marie-Claude Lavoie, Marie-Helene Lebeau, Valerie Mai, Maria Montsenigos, Talwinder Bhatti, Nesmelia-Grace Chantengco, Culleenna Hibbert-Sandford, Grace Schulman, Stephanie Simoopoulos, Kathleen Wong).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

We are unable to share the final dataset for this study given reasons of confidentiality. Requests for anonymized data from this study will require formal application to the corresponding author and appropriate ethics approval.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported with funding from the Competition Attracting Research Excellence (C.A.R.E.) grant sponsored by the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation. The St. Mary’s Hospital Users’ Committee provided funding to purchase the whiteboards and supplies for the two clinical areas involved in the study;Fondation de l’hôpital St. Mary;