Person:
Kanfer,
Ruth
Kanfer,
Ruth
Permanent Link
Associated Organization(s)
Organizational Unit
ORCID
ArchiveSpace Name Record
Publication Search Results
Now showing
1 - 3 of 3
-
ItemThe Representational Function of Clinic Design: Staff and Patient Perceptions of Teamwork( 2020-09-15) Lim, Lisa ; Kanfer, Ruth ; Stroebel, Robert J. ; Zimring, CraigThis study empirically investigates the relationships between visibility attributes and both patients’ and staff members’ teamwork experiences. Teamwork among healthcare professionals is critical for the safety and quality of patient care. While a patient-centered, team-based care approach is promoted in primary care clinics, little is known about how clinic layouts can support the teamwork experiences of staff and patients in team-based primary clinics.
-
ItemBeyond Co-location: Visual Connections of Staff Workstations and Staff Communication in Primary Care Clinics( 2020-08) Lim, Lisa ; Kanfer, Ruth ; Stroebel, Robert J. ; Zimring, CraigThe importance of communication among healthcare providers has been long recognized, and many healthcare organizations are implementing team-based care, with emphasis on staff communication. While previous empirical studies in various settings illustrate the role of built environments in user communication, there is a lack of quantified interpersonal spatial metrics to predict interactions. This study investigates how interpersonal spatial metrics at different scales predict staff communication patterns by empirically studying four primary care clinics that provide team-based care. We found that staff members in clinics with higher visual connections among staff members reported more timely and frequent communication. We also found that staff members talked to each other more frequently when their workstations were visually connected. The findings of this study are expected to help designers and facility managers provide well-designed team-based clinic layouts, beyond just shared work spaces for team members, for improved staff communication.
-
ItemBackstage Staff Communication: The Effects of Different Levels of Visual Exposure to Patients( 2019-11-21) Lim, Lisa ; Kanfer, Ruth ; Stroebel, Robert J. ; Zimring, CraigObjective: This article examines how visual exposure to patients predicts patient-related communication among staff members. Background: Communication among healthcare professionals private from patients, or backstage communication, is critical for staff teamwork and patient care. While patients and visitors are a core group of users in healthcare settings, not much attention has been given to how patients' presence impacts staff communication. Furthermore, many healthcare facilities provide team spaces for improved staff teamwork, but the privacy levels of team areas significantly vary. Method: This article presents an empirical study of four team-based primary care clinics where staff communication and teamwork are important. Visual exposure levels of the clinics were analyzed, and their relationships to staff members' concerns for having backstage communication, including preferred and nonpreferred locations for backstage communication, were investigated. Results: Staff members in clinics with less visual exposure to patients reported lower concerns about having backstage communication. Staff members preferred talking in team areas that were visually less exposed to patients in the clinic, but, within team areas, the level of visual exposure did not matter. On the other hand, staff members did not prefer talking in visually exposed areas such as corridors in the clinic and visually exposed areas within team spaces. Conclusions: Staff members preferred talking in team areas, and they did not prefer talking in visually exposed areas. These findings identified visually exposed team areas as a potentially uncomfortable environment, with a lack of agreement between staff members' preferences toward where they had patient-related communication.