Breakdown in Communication: Costly and Dangerous

“What we've got here is failure to communicate,” the Captain, a prison warden, famously said to his stubborn prisoner in the 1967 film classic Cool Hand Luke. It's far from a friendly pronouncement, of course. But too often, communication channels really do break down, and the results in the medical arena can be especially dire, even catastrophic. That's the underlying message of a new report by CRICO Strategies, a Harvard-affiliated group of evidenced-based risk-management companies.

“When information falls through the cracks, diagnoses are confounded, procedures are complicated, and subsequent care is compromised,” says Heather Riah, CRICO's SVP and COO.

Citation for the Full-text Article

Guglielmo W. Failure to Communicate is Costly and Dangerous. Medscape. February 16. 2016

Latest News from CRICO

Get all your medmal and patient safety news here.

    Say What? Dangers of Miscommunicating

    News
    When miscommunication means life or death.

    I-PASS and SBAR Handoff Tools Have Proven Benefits

    News
    The Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare magazine highlights the CRICO Strategies 2015 CBS Benchmarking Report on communication failures. The report was the catalyst for a recent Patient Safety Monitor Journal published interview, where patient safety experts weighed in on why nearly one-third of malpractice claims involve a communication failure, leading to significant patient harm.

    A Perioperative Teamwork Instructor Training Program for Supporting Perioperative Teamwork

    News
    A research abstract presenting the CRICO and Center for Medical Simulation (CMS) educational program focused on inter-professional educators to prepare them to lead training programs was selected as 2nd place award winner and will be presented at the 15th Annual International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare, January 10th–14th, 2015.
X
Cookies help us improve your website experience.
By using our website, you agree to our use of cookies.
Confirm