Annegret Friederike Hannawa

Prof. Dr. Annegret Hannawa is tenured Professor of Health Communication and founding Director of the Center for the Advancement of Healthcare Quality & Patient Safety (CAHQS) at the Faculty of Communication, Culture & Society at USI. She has also served as founding President and Director of Research Affairs of the ISCOME Global Institute for the Advancement of Communication Science in Healthcare, and is now presiding the European Institute for Safe Communication (EISC).

Hannawa has received honorary titles as "Associate Faculty" at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health (USA), and "Honorary Research Associate" at Cardiff University's Medical School (Wales, UK). Through the extensive scientific evidence she has generated to address "hot topics" in healthcare (e.g. digital health technologies, teamwork, big data, safety, medical errors, patient activation, family empowerment, healthy aging, patient-centered care), she has become a renowned scientific thought leader in the fields of "Patient safety" and "Quality of care."

Hannawa has served courts, the WHO, and health ministers across the globe with her evidence-based scientific advice. Among other prominent events, she has been invited as a speaker to the global Global Ministerial Patient Safety Summit, the World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit (with Bill Clinton), and the Bill & Melinda Gates "Grand Challenges" Meeting (with Bill Gates and Angela Merkel).

Among her four scientific innovations, "SACCIA safe communication" and "Medical Error Disclosure Competence (MEDC)" are considered practice standards to improve patient safety and quality of care. In her most recent grant-funded work, Hannawa is currently extending her safety research to other high-risk contexts (e.g. aviation, rescues, energy sector, climate change).

Education:

Professor Hannawa obtained her higher educational degrees at San Diego State University (B.A. in 2002, M.A. in 2006, Interpersonal Communication and Quantitative Research Methods) and Arizona State University (Ph.D. in 2009, Interpersonal Communication, Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods) in the USA. Prior to joining the faculty at USI, she served as tenure-track Assistant Professor of Health Communication and Empirical Research Methods at Wake Forest University in North Carolina (USA; 2009-2011).

Research focus:

Professor Hannawa’s scientific expertise lies in the domains of interpersonal communication competence, digital transformation, and safety in high-risk contexts. Her research agenda focuses on transdisciplinary approaches to optimizing safety, and positive outcomes that can be achieved through safer interpersonal interaction. With her grants (funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the GBA-Innovationsfonds and Dräger Foundation), she has developed evidence-based communication guidelines for "SACCIA Safe communication" and "MEDC Medical error disclosure competence" for effective error prevention and disclosure in the context of healthcare-induced harm. Her research has also examined physicians’ verbal and nonverbal communication styles with patients that facilitate positive and negative physiological (e.g., patient and physician well-being), psychological (e.g., rumination, distress, feelings of guilt), relational (e.g., trust, forgiveness, satisfaction), organizational (e.g., litigation), and systemic (e.g., doctor-switching) health outcomes. Most recently, she has examined the role of (un)safe communication practices in Alpine mountain rescues, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in the context of climate change.

Scientific innovations:

Professor Hannawa has developed four scientific innovations with her team:

• 1. The "SACCIA" guideline defines five evidence-based core competencies for "safe communication" in everyday clinical practice (Sufficiency, Accuracy, Clarity, Contextualization, Interpersonal Adaptation);
• 2. The "MEDC" (Medical Error Disclosure Competence) framework serves as a scientific guideline for disclosing medical errors to patients and care companions;
• 3. The "INQUAT" (Integrative Quality Care Assessment Tool) serves as an evidence-based instrument to assist healthcare leaders in their evaluation of healthcare quality;
• 4. The "TRACE" (Tool for the Retrospective Analysis of Critical Events) is an evidence-based tool for analyzing critical incidents -- including adverse events, near misses and harmless hits.

Publications and awards:

Professor Hannawa’s published five books, and over 50 scientific studies in a variety of distinguished journals (see CV). Her research has been recognized with several international awards. Most recently, she won the 2016 Jozien Bensing Research Award for outstanding career achievements and impact. Her book "Communication Competence" was recognized with the NCA Communication Apprehension and Competence Division's 2016 Best Edited Book Award. Furthermore, four of her investigations received “Top Paper Awards” by the U.S. National Communication Association and the Swiss Patient Safety Foundation.