Improving Communication and Teamwork Between Resident Doctor Teams Using a Group Messaging Application: A Quality Improvement Project.

Abstract

Background Communication and teamwork are essential in medicine. Established standards emphasise the importance of collaboration and access to support. Some departments divide doctors into teams; however, inter-team communication is not always efficient. This quality improvement project aimed to improve teamwork and communication between resident-doctor teams at the Medicine for Older People (MOP) department at University Hospital Southampton using a messaging application. Secondary objectives were to assess the management of workload, resident doctor well-being, and patient safety. Materials and methods A WhatsApp (Meta Platforms, Inc., Menlo Park, California, United States) communication group was created to involve all eight MOP teams (no patient information was discussed). Anonymous questionnaires were used pre-implementation and two months post-implementation to assess the impact on communication, teamwork, overtime hours, doctor well-being, and patient safety. Data analysis was carried out using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 30 (Released 2024; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). We calculated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and p-values using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results All 24 resident doctors (Foundation/Senior House Officers) participated, and 19 completed both questionnaires. Significant improvements were seen in communication (very good/good ratings: pre-implementation 5%; post-implementation 100%, 95% CI 1.62-2.58, p<0.001), teamwork (pre-implementation 26%; post-intervention 84%, 95% CI 1.12-2.15, p<0.001), and workplace well-being (pre-intervention 47%; post-intervention 84%, 95% CI 0.47-1.21, p=0.001). Mean days worked overtime per week were reduced from 1.89 to 1.31 (95% CI (-0.91) - (-0.25), p=0.005) and the mean time worked overtime was reduced from 29.7 minutes/week to 19.9 minutes/week (95% CI (-14.61) - (-4.92), p=0.003). All the doctors (100%) strongly agreed/agreed the intervention helped distribute tasks more evenly and facilitated the timely completion of work. Around 90% felt this very positively/positively impacted patient safety. All doctors recommended this intervention for future residents. Conclusion Group messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, can enhance communication between resident-doctor teams, leading to improvements in supportive teamwork, patient care, and doctor well-being.