Communication and communicable disease control: lessons from Ebola virus disease.

Abstract

In her article “Ebola, Team Communication, and Shame: But Shame on Whom?” Shannon (2015) describes communication failures that contributed to delayed diagnosis—and, arguably, to the death—of the first patient in the United States to present with Ebola virus disease (EVD) (Shannon 2015). Contrary to her belief that medical errors due to communication failure are a particular problem in the United States, the problem is probably universal, albeit to varying degrees in different countries and health care settings. In this commentary we argue that communication failures and medical errors are especially significant when they cause infection. We use the extreme example of the current EVD outbreak in West Africa, and related cases in other countries, to illustrate our argument and ask whether lessons from this outbreak can be translated into sustainable systems for prevention and control of future infectious disease emergencies and HAIs.