SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Perfecting the Pings: Improving the Quality of Inpatient Secure Messaging

Pdf Summary

This quality improvement project addressed the growing use of inpatient secure text messaging, which can improve communication but also create interruptions and distract clinicians from patient care. The team developed an interdisciplinary educational intervention to promote better messaging practices and reduce unnecessary messages to frontline Advanced Practice Providers (APPs).<br /><br />The intervention included two best-practice educational tools: a short etiquette tip sheet and an infographic showing preferred communication methods for different clinical scenarios. Over a 10-week period, these materials were repeatedly shared on the intervention unit through weekly meetings, unit emails, workstation displays, and posting in the APP workroom. A control unit received no education. The team compared message volume and staff survey responses before and after the intervention across both units.<br /><br />Results showed no significant improvement. Interrupted time series analysis found a non-significant decrease in message volume trend on the intervention unit, and difference-in-difference analysis also showed a non-significant reduction in messages compared with the control unit. Survey responses suggested that APPs on the intervention unit unexpectedly became more likely to agree that Epic chats can be distracting from patient care, possibly indicating increased frustration with interruptions rather than improvement.<br /><br />The authors concluded that passive educational efforts alone were not enough to meaningfully change secure messaging behavior or staff attitudes. They suggest future interventions may need real-time support from clinician quality champions embedded in the messaging environment to drive actual behavior change.

Asset Subtitle

Christopher Sonne

Meta Tag

Author List Aamina Ahmed, Benjamin Verplanke, Christopher Sonne, David Lin, Jonah Zaretsky, Kristin Roegiers, Maxine Barrett-Antoine, Saul Blecker, Yunan Zhao

Category Research

Concept Secure Messaging

Concept Clinician Communication

Concept Educational Intervention

Concept Multi-pronged Intervention

Concept Message Volume

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization NYU Langone Health

Presenting Author Christopher Sonne

Track Quality Improvement

Keywords

inpatient secure text messaging

quality improvement project

advanced practice providers

interdisciplinary education

messaging etiquette

clinical communication

interruptions

Epic chat

patient care distractions

behavior change

Secure Messaging

Clinician Communication

Educational Intervention

Multi-pronged Intervention

Message Volume