Do Localized Physician Teams Improve Care?

Assigning patients indiscriminately throughout the hospital creates a barrier to longitudinal working relations between physicians, unit-based nurses, and other staff. This tradition of nongeographic patient assignments can also impede timely communication and coordination of care.

In a single-center study in Chicago, investigators examined the effect of geographic localization on physician–nurse communications and on congruence of daily care plans. Clinician interviews were conducted before and after an intervention that localized physician teams to specific units. Each day, physicians and nurses were interviewed separately about six elements of the care plan for each patient: primary diagnosis, planned tests, planned procedures, changes in…