A preliminary field study of patient flow management in a trauma center for designing information technology.

We described the information transfer and communication activities of nurse coordinators (NCO), who lead patient flow management in a major trauma center. A field study was conducted to identify information sources and information tools used, leading purposes of communication, and the information types NCOs need for patient flow management. In addition to verbal communication, NCOs frequently used a combination of patient-oriented and process-oriented information tools.