Article Impact Level: HIGH Data Quality: STRONG Summary of Annals of Internal Medicine, ANNALS-24-02904. https://doi.org/10.7326/ANNALS-24-02904 Dr. Leila Keshtkar et al.
Points
- This systematic review synthesized 46 studies on how poor communication contributes to patient safety incidents, finding that poor communication was solely responsible for 13.2% of incidents and contributed to 24.0% of incidents.
- The review highlighted the significant role of poor communication in healthcare safety incidents among healthcare professionals and between professionals and patients. However, the studies varied widely in design and quality.
- Despite the low quality and heterogeneity of the studies, the findings suggest that poor communication is a major contributor to adverse events, indicating a need for better communication practices in healthcare settings.
- The review calls for further research to understand how poor communication leads to safety incidents and to develop targeted interventions, emphasizing the need to improve healthcare communication practices for better patient safety.
- Future studies should aim to improve study quality and reporting consistency while investigating effective communication interventions to reduce patient safety incidents and enhance overall healthcare outcomes.
Summary
This systematic review aimed to synthesize studies on how poor communication among healthcare providers and between providers and patients contributes to patient safety incidents. The review analyzed 46 studies published between 2013 and 2024 involving 67,826 patients. The studies were mostly of moderate to low quality, with high heterogeneity in study design, healthcare setting, patient populations, and types of safety incidents. The review found that poor communication was identified as the sole cause of 13.2% (IQR, 6.1% to 24.4%) of safety incidents and as a contributing factor in 24.0% (IQR, 12.0% to 46.8%) of incidents combined with other causes.
Despite the study heterogeneity and low quality of evidence, the findings underscore the significant role of poor communication in healthcare safety incidents. The research suggests that poor communication between healthcare professionals and between professionals and patients is a major contributor to adverse events in healthcare settings. However, the variability across studies, including differences in how communication was assessed and reported, limits the strength of the conclusions.
The review highlights the need for further research to understand how poor communication leads to safety incidents and to develop targeted interventions. Given the high impact of communication issues on patient safety, improving communication practices within healthcare systems is critical. Future studies should aim to improve study quality and consistency in reporting and investigate effective communication interventions to reduce patient safety incidents.
Link to the article: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-24-02904
References Keshtkar, L., Bennett-Weston, A., Khan, A. S., Mohan, S., Jones, M., Nockels, K., Gunn, S., Armstrong, N., Bostock, J., & Howick, J. (2025). Impacts of communication type and quality on patient safety incidents: A systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine, ANNALS-24-02904. https://doi.org/10.7326/ANNALS-24-02904
