Questões de Inglês

Instant messaging in the workplace is no substitute for a professional conversation

By: Sadie Mullin

November 14, 2017

¹ Instant messaging poses a significant threat to effective communication in the workplace. NHS’s view on use of instant messaging by medical professionals to discuss patients is clear. Due to the potential risk to confidential data, it is currently banned. However, recent research shows that it is widely used amongst professionals.

² Most medical and surgical firms now communicate through a communal instant messaging group. Throughout the day, questions are asked predominantly by junior members and answered by seniors. Places to meet and ward rounds are also discussed. How do we train ourselves to consistently separate the wheat from the chaff in terms of information received?

³ Detailed conversations among medical professionals are paramount to patient safety. They always have been. They are how we have been trained to communicate with each other. They represent core values of our profession and yet they are becoming obsolete. An instant message is no substitute; it does not possess the communicative vigor to keep patients safe. Furthermore, all opportunity for tone of voice, body language and a platform for prudent questions to be asked is lost. We underestimate how the dynamism in our exchange has the potential to directly enhance or hinder patient care.

⁴ Finally, instant messaging regarding, for example, an unwell patient is inappropriate. In reality, we open our devices at an opportune moment and are faced with a selection of messages, some from family and friends, some from the workplace, most largely unimportant. We are desensitized by the volume and speed at which we are contactable. But a patient’s clinical state is of vital importance. We cannot expect ourselves to be able to sift for clinical gold amongst the barrage of communication from our smartphones.

⁵ Psychiatrists have demonstrated that we aren’t even aware of the vast extent of time we spend using our smartphones. Cognitive bias results in an average 40% underestimate of self-reported vs. real usage time.

⁶ It would be wrong to imply advancement in Information Technology hasn’t enhanced patient safety—it has. But we need to be mindful of what patients stand to lose if the way we communicate with each other continues to shift so rapidly.

Sadie Mullin is an ST1 in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Bristol.

Adapted from: http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2017/11/14/sadie-mullininstant-messaging-in-the-workplace-is-no-substitute-for-aprofessional-conversation/. Access: 17 March 2018.

Glossary: threat: ameaça; NHS: National Health Service (o servico público de saúde do Reino Unido); ward rounds: turnos hospitalares; the wheat from the chaff: joio do trigo; enhance: melhorar; bias: tendência subjetiva; hinder: prejudicar; understimate: subestimar; sift: peneirar; mindful: alertas

TEXTO:

  Cutting back on salt, high fat foods and too many
breads and pasta, and eating more fruits and vegetables
is the best way to a healthy heart. However, experts
from the American Heart Association (AHA) say that
[5] paying attention to how often you eat, and at what time
of the day you eat, can help to lower risk of heart attacks
and stroke.
  Based on what’s known so far, the panel, led by
Marie-Pierre St-Onge, supports existing advice about the
[10] benefits of breakfast. That advice is based on studies
that compare breakfast-eaters to non-eaters and their
heart disease events. Breakfast-eaters tend to have lower
rates of heart disease, and were also less likely to have
high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. They also
[15] tended to have more normal blood sugar levels and sugar
metabolism, meaning they were at lower risk of diabetes
than those who didn’t eat breakfast.
  As to the question of what effects eating earlier in
the day or later in the day can have on heart health, the
[20] panel found that the research points toward the benefits
of eating earlier rather than later. More studies are needed
but the initial finding makes sense, says St-Onge. The
more calories you eat during the day, the more chances
you have of burning off those calories. Plus, there’s
[25] growing evidence that the body’s metabolism is different
during the day, when the body is active, than during the
evening, when it’s preparing to shut down. “The body

and all of the organs have clocks,” she says. “There is a
timing that provides all the nutrients that organs need,
[30] and the timing activity of enzymes and other agents that
process food are better earlier in the day than at night.”

CUTTING BACK on...Disponível em: <https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ science-says-snacking-breakfast-002604856.html>. Acesso em: 12 out. 2017.

TEXTO:

  Cutting back on salt, high fat foods and too many
breads and pasta, and eating more fruits and vegetables
is the best way to a healthy heart. However, experts
from the American Heart Association (AHA) say that
[5] paying attention to how often you eat, and at what time
of the day you eat, can help to lower risk of heart attacks
and stroke.
  Based on what’s known so far, the panel, led by
Marie-Pierre St-Onge, supports existing advice about the
[10] benefits of breakfast. That advice is based on studies
that compare breakfast-eaters to non-eaters and their
heart disease events. Breakfast-eaters tend to have lower
rates of heart disease, and were also less likely to have
high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. They also
[15] tended to have more normal blood sugar levels and sugar
metabolism, meaning they were at lower risk of diabetes
than those who didn’t eat breakfast.
  As to the question of what effects eating earlier in
the day or later in the day can have on heart health, the
[20] panel found that the research points toward the benefits
of eating earlier rather than later. More studies are needed
but the initial finding makes sense, says St-Onge. The
more calories you eat during the day, the more chances
you have of burning off those calories. Plus, there’s
[25] growing evidence that the body’s metabolism is different
during the day, when the body is active, than during the
evening, when it’s preparing to shut down. “The body

and all of the organs have clocks,” she says. “There is a
timing that provides all the nutrients that organs need,
[30] and the timing activity of enzymes and other agents that
process food are better earlier in the day than at night.”

CUTTING BACK on...Disponível em: <https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ science-says-snacking-breakfast-002604856.html>. Acesso em: 12 out. 2017.

TEXTO:

  Cutting back on salt, high fat foods and too many
breads and pasta, and eating more fruits and vegetables
is the best way to a healthy heart. However, experts
from the American Heart Association (AHA) say that
[5] paying attention to how often you eat, and at what time
of the day you eat, can help to lower risk of heart attacks
and stroke.
  Based on what’s known so far, the panel, led by
Marie-Pierre St-Onge, supports existing advice about the
[10] benefits of breakfast. That advice is based on studies
that compare breakfast-eaters to non-eaters and their
heart disease events. Breakfast-eaters tend to have lower
rates of heart disease, and were also less likely to have
high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. They also
[15] tended to have more normal blood sugar levels and sugar
metabolism, meaning they were at lower risk of diabetes
than those who didn’t eat breakfast.
  As to the question of what effects eating earlier in
the day or later in the day can have on heart health, the
[20] panel found that the research points toward the benefits
of eating earlier rather than later. More studies are needed
but the initial finding makes sense, says St-Onge. The
more calories you eat during the day, the more chances
you have of burning off those calories. Plus, there’s
[25] growing evidence that the body’s metabolism is different
during the day, when the body is active, than during the
evening, when it’s preparing to shut down. “The body

and all of the organs have clocks,” she says. “There is a
timing that provides all the nutrients that organs need,
[30] and the timing activity of enzymes and other agents that
process food are better earlier in the day than at night.”

CUTTING BACK on...Disponível em: <https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ science-says-snacking-breakfast-002604856.html>. Acesso em: 12 out. 2017.

TEXTO:

  Cutting back on salt, high fat foods and too many
breads and pasta, and eating more fruits and vegetables
is the best way to a healthy heart. However, experts
from the American Heart Association (AHA) say that
[5] paying attention to how often you eat, and at what time
of the day you eat, can help to lower risk of heart attacks
and stroke.
  Based on what’s known so far, the panel, led by
Marie-Pierre St-Onge, supports existing advice about the
[10] benefits of breakfast. That advice is based on studies
that compare breakfast-eaters to non-eaters and their
heart disease events. Breakfast-eaters tend to have lower
rates of heart disease, and were also less likely to have
high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. They also
[15] tended to have more normal blood sugar levels and sugar
metabolism, meaning they were at lower risk of diabetes
than those who didn’t eat breakfast.
  As to the question of what effects eating earlier in
the day or later in the day can have on heart health, the
[20] panel found that the research points toward the benefits
of eating earlier rather than later. More studies are needed
but the initial finding makes sense, says St-Onge. The
more calories you eat during the day, the more chances
you have of burning off those calories. Plus, there’s
[25] growing evidence that the body’s metabolism is different
during the day, when the body is active, than during the
evening, when it’s preparing to shut down. “The body

and all of the organs have clocks,” she says. “There is a
timing that provides all the nutrients that organs need,
[30] and the timing activity of enzymes and other agents that
process food are better earlier in the day than at night.”

CUTTING BACK on...Disponível em: <https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ science-says-snacking-breakfast-002604856.html>. Acesso em: 12 out. 2017.

TEXTO:

  Since the outbreak of the most recent Ebola
epidemic in West Africa, more than 11,000 people have
died and more than 15,000 people have been infected
with the virus. While some drug treatments have been
[5] marginally effective, no vaccine to protect against infection
has yet been developed, although a number are currently
being tested.
  One of those, developed by the Public Health Agency
of Canada, showed early promise in 2015. Now, a new
[10] report published in the journal Lancet provides even more
encouraging results that suggest it may be the first
vaccine to prevent infection with Ebola.
  The trial involved more than 11,000 people living
in Guinea. Once a case of Ebola was confirmed, a list of
[15] people who had come in contact with the patient was
compiled, and they were randomly assigned to either
receive the vaccine immediately or three weeks later. All
participants were tested for presence of Ebola. After 10
days, there were no cases of Ebola infection among those
[20] who were vaccinated, while 23 people were diagnosed
with Ebola in the group that did not receive the vaccine
immediately.
  The positive results led the study organizers to
provide the vaccine to all people who had come in contact
[25] with Ebola patients. That included family members who
lived with patients and were exposed to their clothing or
linens, as well as the next ring of people who had
interacted with these contacts. Side effects from the
vaccine were relatively rare and included headache,
[30] muscle pain, fever and allergy to the drug.
  More studies will be conducted on the people who
were vaccinated to see if their immune responses indeed
were boosted by the shot. If the positive results are
confirmed and repeated, the vaccine could play a critical
[35] role in stopping the Ebola epidemic and preventing future
outbreaks.

PARK, Alice. Disponível em: <time.com/4611239/ebola-vaccine-infectionvirus/>. Acesso em: 12 out. 2017. Adaptado.