Organisational Complexity, the
Built Environment , & Clinical Risk
Australian Research Council, Discovery Project
Professor Rick Iedema, Director, Centre for Health
Communication, UTS
Eamon Merrick RN MHSM, Research Fellow

Aims
1. Use experience based enquiry to articulate the
influence of the built hospital environment on inter-
professional interaction.
2. To conceptualise and articulate the causal links
between inter-professional collaboration and clinical
risk and space.
3. To use experienced based enquiry for participant led
redesign of work practices to enhance patient safety
within the context of the built environment.

Methods
a) Set the scene
Collaborate with heath care professionals, architects, policy
makers, managers, and consumers in focus groups,
interviews, and observational techniques to define the
context and processes involved in the design of health
facilities.
b) Inform the process
Using experienced based inquiry, video ethnography, articulate
local knowledge regarding the interface of inter-professional
interaction, the built environment, and clinical risk.

Outcomes
1. Articulate the needs of end users.
2. Conceptualise contemporary health facility design processes.
3. Raise an awareness about designing for adaptive organisational
systems.
4. Build collaborative communities of design & practice.

The Centre for Health Communication
www.communicationsafety.org