Table 1.

Summary of major themes for design recommendations of an ideal communication system and recommendations for future research.

Theme	Subtheme
Key Principles of the Ideal System
	Safety – The new communication system should help minimize communication errors and improve patient safety.
	Patient-Centered Focus – The system centers on the patient instead of specific providers, promoting the inclusiveness of all individuals and team integration.
	Cost – The cost of the existing communication inefficiencies outweighs the financial burden of implementing a new communication system.
Design Recommendations
	Improve Workflow Through Contextual Awareness and Prioritization – Minimize interruptions by allowing message receivers to set their availability and prioritize messages by urgency.
	Promote Stronger Collaborative Relationships – Provide capability to communicate to more than one team members.
	Enhance Patient-Centered Care – Allow patients to be a part of the communications.
	Allow Interoperability and Scalability – Allow communication to clinicians providing care to patients, regardless of the institution with which they are affiliated.
	Support Multiple Technologies – Support different communication technologies such as pagers, cell phones, and different types of smartphones.
Research Recommendations
	Considerations of the Contexts and Processes in Which Technology are Embedded – A broad approach looking at the processes and contexts in which these technologies are adopted including professional and organizational cultures.
	Need for Extensive Research Frameworks – It is important to examine the processes and how technology interacts from multiple perspectives, including 1) Education, 2) Clinical Practices, 3) Culture, 4) Interprofessional Collaboration and Communication, and 5) Organization of Care.
	Need for Multifaceted Outcome Measurements – Mixed methods consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches should be used to obtain multiple data sources when evaluating complex interventions.