A comunicação e a construção da cultura de segurança do paciente : interfaces e possibilidades no cenário do hospital

Abstract

The National Patient Safety Program created in Brazil in 2013 defined one of its goals as "improving communication". This led us to propose a research aiming at: to discuss the interfaces on communication and the construction of the culture of patient safety; investigating the (in)possibilities of communication in the hospital environment; understand how communication is tied to the patient's safety culture; and to highlight the competencies of health professionals for communication. For the development of the research, we selected a university hospital in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, RS. The methodological strategy was Thompson's in Depth Hermeneutics, having as investigation procedures the field study, in-depth interview with professionals of the institution and non-participant observation. From the statements of the respondents, six dimensions of analysis emerged: the perception about information and communication; communication and shift: reflecting on the scenarios; aspects involved in the hospital communication process; the relationship between patient safety and communication; the construction of patient safety culture from the professional perspective; and competencies of health professionals for communication, which were (re) interpreted in the light of Bardin's content analysis. The analyzes showed that the instrumental / informational bias of the communication is the most present in the hospital setting and that the cultural, human and strategic dimensions are not yet contemplated, although they need to happen concomitantly to concretize the patient safety culture. We also note a need manifested by the hospital staff that communication needs to happen; and that professionals have an expectation about the procedures to control and evaluate care practices and their performance. There is a need to review the communication process, since it constitutes the network that enables and/or supports the articulation between existing competencies in the organization and those necessary for the implementation of the Patient Safety Program.