Hospitals across the U.S. are struggling to effectively reach nurses with critical workplace information, relying on communication methods that often fail to cut through the realities of understaffed, high-pressure clinical environments.
WHY IT MATTERS
These were among the findings of Firstup's survey of 1,000 U.S. hospital nurses, which suggests while hospitals are communicating frequently, the methods and content often fail to reach nurses effectively during demanding shifts.
Email remains the dominant communication channel, used by 86% of hospitals, the survey found. Yet many nurses say these messages do not resonate or arrive in a usable way.
Nearly 70% of nurses reported receiving workplace updates several times a week or more, but almost half (48%) said those messages were only "somewhat" relevant to their roles.
As a result, 67% acknowledged that they sometimes skim or delete workplace communications without fully reading them; 25% said they do so often.
The consequences extend beyond engagement, with 16% of nurses saying they have missed updates related to safety protocols, while 10% reported overlooking information tied to HIPAA or compliance requirements.
In addition, nine in ten nurses said they learned about new policies or procedures only after those changes had already gone into effect at least once.
Time pressure appears to be a central factor. A third of nurses said they do not have time during their workday to read updates, while 19% cited a lack of motivation to engage with workplace messages. Thirteen percent described themselves as disengaged from their hospital overall.
"Patient safety and compliance are the top priorities of healthcare organizations, Melissa Hensley, vice president of healthcare at Firstup told Healthcare IT News. "With that, it is important to ensure every nurse and hospital employee is receiving and digesting communications in the way that makes the most sense to them – content and channel wise.
She added that the barrage of communications to frontline nurses these days means traditional and passive channels are failing them.
Confidence in existing communication strategies is also limited. About 48% of respondents said they were only "somewhat confident" that their hospitals' communication practices keep nurses compliant with required policies and procedures.
The survey links these communication gaps to broader operational and workforce challenges. Nearly nine in ten nurses said miscommunication or a lack of communication from managers or senior leadership has caused workplace issues.
More than half (52%) reported increased stress or burnout as a result, and nearly a third said poor communication made them want to leave their department or unit; 21% said it contributed to a desire to leave the nursing profession entirely.
Eighty-one percent of nurses reported experiencing patient care issues tied to miscommunication from leadership. These included inefficient handoffs or transitions of care (33%), delays in treatment (31%), and increased patient complaints or dissatisfaction (30%).
Overall, many nurses view hospital communication efforts as falling short, with 38% saying communication around staffing changes, new equipment or technology, safety protocols and onboarding is only "somewhat effective" or needs improvement.
ON THE RECORD
"The messages and teams delivering those communications are disjointed, revealing a need to create a personalized approach that makes communications easier to access and simple to understand to focus on patient care," Hensley said.
"Hospitals can't assume nurses have the time or cognitive space to sort through inboxes during short-staffed shifts," she added. "Along with personalized communications, another step is leveraging data-driven orchestrations to identify the proper timing."
Nathan Eddy is a healthcare and technology freelancer based in Berlin.
Email the writer: nathaneddy@gmail.com
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
