The places where communication was observed to occur depended on the patient load in the emergency department. When the ED became busy, nurses tended to communicate more frequently in the rooms or in the hallways (rather than in the central work area) so that they could remain closer to their assigned patients. In fact, the nurses spent most of their time during their shifts in the patient rooms and hallways, and only remained in the central area to the extent needed for charting and communication with physicians. This dynamic changed somewhat when the ED was less busy, with nurses then choosing to spend more time in the central work station. Assessing nurse-to-nurse visibility was challenging during the busy hours of the ED, particularly
