Communication Between Anaesthesia Providers for Clinical and Professional Purposes: A Scoping Review

Background: Anaesthesia providers in all contexts need to be able to communicate with colleagues to meet a variety of clinical and professional needs, including physical help, advice and support as well as learning, supervision and mentorship. Such communication can be regarded as a 'social resource' which underpins anaesthesia providers' practice, but which has not itself been extensively studied. The objective of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the literature related to communication among anaesthesia providers to meet clinical and professional goals, focusing on the modalities, contexts and purposes or outcomes of such communication, as well as which providers are involved. Methods: We conducted a scoping review using the JBI methodology to examine the current literature available, searching the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, Embase, CINAHL and Google Scholar. Papers were eligible for inclusion where they primarily addressed the subject of communication between trained anaesthesia providers for any clinical or professional purpose (excluding purely social interactions). Data were charted for the location and cadre of providers represented, means of communication and the situation, purposes and outcomes of communication. Results: 3872 records were identified for screening, and 225 papers were ultimately included. Communication was reported both as a variable influencing a wide range of clinical and nonclinical outcomes and as an outcome in itself which might be modified by other factors. It was also considered in a smaller group of studies as a resource with varying availability to anaesthesia providers. Physician providers were well represented in included documents, but nurse anaesthetists, clinical officers and other nonphysician, nonnurse anaesthetists were far less commonly included. The majority of identified studies on communication between anaesthesia providers originated from and related to high-income countries. Conclusion: Communication between anaesthesia providers affects all aspects of their practice and has implications for both patient outcomes and workforce capacity. More research is necessary to understand how the availability of communication as a resource affects patient care and health worker well-being, particularly in low- and middle-income contexts and among nonphysician anaesthesia providers.