Dedicated Workspace for Co-Located Healthcare Professionals: Affordances for Interprofessional Communication in Hospitals

Although research has highlighted the connection between healthcare design and communication among nurses, it is essential to understand the experiences of additional healthcare professions due to increasing healthcare specialization. Employing multiple methods, this study explores interprofessional communication (IPC) and physical design in two different hospital cardiovascular units (CVUs). The first hospital incorporated a rectangular single-corridor design (RSCD) with patient rooms along the hallways. The second hospital included patient rooms on the perimeter of hallways in a circular design (CD) and dedicated spaces for co-located staff from multiple professions. Seven focus groups of 40 healthcare professionals (HCPs) from 12 healthcare professions were conducted to elicit perspectives on interprofessional communication, design, and patient care. Observations (N = 8,978) of face-to-face communication were conducted across both hospital CVUs. Patient records (N = 1,930) were gathered to understand patient characteristics and outcomes. Thematic qualitative analysis revealed that HCPs perceived design features as both facilitating and constraining IPC. In RSCD units, greater distance hampered interprofessional communication in acute/progressive care while proximity facilitated IPC in ICU care. In CD units, dedicated spaces for co-located staff afforded proximity, IPC, and patient care communication. While inefficient technology constrained communication in RSCD, updated technology in CD afforded IPC, indicating technology’s communicative agency in sociotechnical healthcare systems. Observations indicated that HCPs in CD units engaged in more IPC than in RSCD (p <.05). Patients were similar across units for demographics, characteristics and comorbidities. A key takeaway from this study is that dedicated workspaces for embedded, co-located HCPs facilitated higher levels of interprofessional communication and engagement.