Toward Risk-Sharing Communication in Wards: The Woof-and-Warp Model of Medical Workplace and Analysis of Nurses' Conversations

We propose an analytical model for describing nursing activities, based on cognitive analyses of studies at nursing workplaces. The woof-and-warp model indicates that nursing activities are woven with warp threads of a variety of nursing tasks processed by a number of medical staffers, and with woof threads of individual nurses involved in performing multiple tasks at one time. Both threads imply that several situational factors come into play in nursing activities, and that effective information management by use of a comprehensive information system is critical to ensure medical safety. Furthermore, an analysis of nurses' conversations with this model reveals that risk-sharing communication (RSC) has value for risk perception and risk management of the entire nursing workplace.