Applying local context to design and implement patient room whiteboards

Correspondence to Carleene Bañez; carleene.banez@gmail.com Background Within hospital environments, whiteboards have become tools to facilitate communication, coordinate patient care, and engage patients.1 2 Humber River Hospital, a large community hospital in Toronto Canada, moved into a new building with blank wall-mounted dry-erase whiteboards in each inpatient room. Aim The aim of this study was to design a standardised whiteboard using human factors methods, such as semi-structured interviews, user-centred design, and usability testing to improve provider–patient communication. Usability test results showed that most nurses updated the whiteboards with their names and the physician’s name, which improves the ability of patients to identify their physicians.6 Nurses also updated the date and unit specific details with key patient information (e.g., baby’s weight on NICU whiteboards). The Canadian Patient Experiences Survey-Inpatient Care (CPES-IC) is a standardised questionnaire that enables patients to provide feedback about the quality of care they received during their inpatient stay in a Canadian acute care hospital.