Important communications. Patients. Families. Friends.

Problematical communications at the geriatric surgical care rehabilitation services of the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital isolate patients from families and friends. Leadership is in a state of learned helplessness. While wallwired landline telephones are installed on demand for medical conferences patients have not any convenient wallwired landline telephones.

What's problematical is that clinicians are diverted from their important clinical work handling telephone calls to patients from families and friends. What's problematical is that patients' stays are longer for the lack of better contact with their families and friends. What's problematical is that lacking at geriatric surgical care rehabilitation services are the good communications of up to date medical centers where patients' families and friends are better able to let clinicians know of any concerns overlooked or not yet brought to the attention of clinicians.

Isolating patients without good communications increases the work of front line clinicians and there are the other increased costs from longer patients stays. Easier access to telephone calls reduces costs, offsets the costs of providing more accessible telephones.