ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to deepen understanding and appreciation of how the professional-practice networks might contribute to patient safety, especially through providing an informal, rapid and service-facing basis for problem-solving and decision-making. It begins by the outlining and questioning the approaches to improving patient safety associated with top-down managerial initiatives. The chapter goes on to elaborate the salient features and potential benefits of naturally occurring social networks, before showing from findings how such professional-practice networks are integral to problem-solving and safe working. Attempts to introduce more formalized, standardized and managerial systems of knowledge sharing might be seen as overlapping with or even conflicting with the more informal, collegial and practice-based networks of communication that feature in everyday clinical work. Research and policy in the area of patient safety advocate the importance of both interpersonal communication in improving teamwork and safe care delivery, and also formal systems of knowledge sharing to foster systemic learning and safety improvement.
