How healthcare settings designed to enable communication can improve clinician teamwork—and save lives.
 

Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the US, with  80% of “adverse events” relating to miscommunications between medical professionals. Given the extremely stressful and fast-paced environment today’s medical professionals work in (something only extenuated by COVID-19), it’s not surprising—yet the repercussions of just one miscommunication mistake are high. But it doesn’t have to stay that way.
 
The key to solving miscommunication in ANY workplace is discovering WHY it’s happening and implementing manageable, context-specific measures to fix it—a foundational perspective that leading workplace design expert Herman Miller has been using for decades to revolutionize workspaces and has been expanding to the healthcare field.
 
In her brand-new, illustrated white paper “Five Ways to Improve Teamwork in Healthcare Environments” Michelle Ossmann, PHD, MSN, and Herman Miller’s Director of Healthcare Knowledge & Insight highlights specific design considerations that create a wide variety of meaningful spaces fit just for the healthcare world. Whether for a team meeting or a quick huddle (since a whopping 56 percent of all staff interactions are unplanned), each one is born from the need to create spaces that encourage and enable seamless conversation, collaboration, informal learning, and knowledge transfer in what is likely one of the most intense workplaces in the world to navigate. Click here to learn more on Herman Miller's research page.