Clinical Communication and Adverse Health Events: Literature Review

Health institutions have an increased risk of occurrence of errors due to their diversity, specificity and volume of services, representing a great concern for health professionals whose main function is to protect the health and lives of their patients. We intend to identify a body of evidence, that shows what the most common adverse events are and what adverse events potentially arise from clinical miscommunication. We made an integrative literature review using the keywords "Adverse Events", "Patient Safety", "Communication". An inquiry on databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Scielo and CINAHL, in articles published between January 2010 and March 2016, was made; all available in Portuguese and English. Of the 216 articles that emerged, we selected eight that answered the research questions: what are the most common adverse events that have their origin in communication errors? Analyzing the selected studies, it appears that the most common adverse events arise in the context of obstetrics and pediatrics, in surgical contexts, in the continuity of care and related medication. Patient safety should be seen as a key component of quality in health care, with good management of the risk of fundamental error for the promotion of this security. The knowledge and understanding that communication failures are one of the main factors contributing to the occurrence of errors in the context of health care, allows the subsequent development of strategies to improve this process and thus ensure safer healthcare. © 2016 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.uk