ABSTRACT
Healthcare is delivered through distinct service providers and departments. These disciplines and departments have their own lexicon that contributes to the maintenance of boundaries that can inhibit information and knowledge-sharing. Teamwork and effective communication are essential to healthcare delivery. This approach aims to discourage silos in support of collective, team level decision-making. The patient safety movement is now in its breakout period and gaining recognition as a valid area of activity and investigation. Socio-cultural and organizational studies provide evidence and insights into shared cognition for improving patient safety. Data that articulates the collective potential of evidence, information, and knowledge (EI&K) to enhance organizational learning and drive safety is nascent and bogged down by the same conceptual murkiness. Shared mental models are needed to reduce this murkiness and sustain cross-silo understanding of the conversation as teams, players and organizations work toward improving patient safety through EI&K initiatives.
