JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The prevention of medical errors depends on effective communication and teamwork between nurses yet traditional nurse call systems create inefficiencies that result in higher staff workloads. Further research is needed to evaluate how digital healthcare technologies affect nursing workflows and whether they add to staff workload.

Objective:

This study aimed to evaluate whether a smartphone application using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Mesh-based signal communication could enhance nurse-to-nurse communication, decrease response times, and improve teamwork as measured by the TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire (T-TPQ).

Methods:

We conducted an interventional study on an acute care ward. Eight nurses participated in the study. The study duration included three alternating days with BLE Mesh application usage (intervention) and three days without the application (control). The researchers tracked nurse response times and used the T-TPQ to evaluate "Situation Monitoring" and "Mutual Support" perceptions from nurses at the end of each shift.

Results:

The application shortened total response duration from 38 seconds (IQR [25, 5128, 52]) in the control period to 2120 seconds (IQR [18, 2518, 24]) in the intervention period (P<.001) according to unpaired t-testsWelch’s t-test. The application reduced the time it took for staff to confirm nursing actions and search for items and request care assistance. The T-TPQ scores demonstrated significant enhancements in "Situation Monitoring" (control: 3.00 vs. intervention: 3.30, P<.01) and "Mutual Support" (control: 3.02 vs. intervention: 3.33, P<.001) which indicated better team awareness and higher willingness to assist colleagues.To ensure participant independence, nurses whose questionnaire data appeared in both conditions (n = 5) were excluded, as were nurses who appeared only as message receivers (n = 5). One nurse with two records within the same condition had scores averaged. This process yielded 15 independent participants in the non-intervention condition and 15 in the intervention condition (30 in total). T-TPQ responses from these 30 unique participants (N = 15 per condition) showed significant improvements in "Situation Monitoring" (control mean: 3.04 vs. intervention: 3.39, P = .001) and "Mutual Support" (control mean: 3.01 vs. intervention: 3.31, P = .003), indicating enhanced team awareness and willingness to assist colleagues. Post-hoc power analysis confirmed that the observed large effect sizes (Cohen’s d > 1.0 for all primary outcomes) yielded power exceeding 87% at the achieved sample size, supporting the interpretability of the current results.A total of 48 participants were recorded, and 15 unique participants per condition were analyzed. T-TPQ confirmed significant improvements in “Situation Monitoring” (3.04 vs. 3.39, P = .001) and “Mutual Support” (3.01 vs. 3.31, P = .003). Post-hoc power exceeded 87% (Cohen’s d > 1.0), supporting the interpretability of these results.

Conclusions:

BLE Mesh technology reduced basic signal communication which shortens nurse response times and enhances team performance through improved situation monitoring and mutual support according to our research. The study demonstrates how this technology delivers functional benefits which enhance nursing communication to produce superior team-based care outcomes.