Hospital Communication Management: How and Why Is Communication Important in Hospitals?
It is a well-known fact that effective communication helps businesses grow and strengthen customer relationships. The same applies to the healthcare industry as patients become more sceptical about choosing the correct physician.
Selecting a healthcare provider is a very personal chore for almost everyone. Patients want to go to a doctor that is supportive and helpful. And with increasing competition, it is a necessity that providers offer top-notch quality communication in hospitals while treating patients.
Also, they need to ensure effective communication between healthcare professionals during the data transmission from one provider to another.
- Patients must feel comfortable talking about their health to get the correct treatment.
- Doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and everyone else involved in offering healthcare services should do their best to create a safe environment for patients.
- They should understand the importance of hospital communication in ensuring patient safety and decreasing clinical errors.
- Providers should consider using automated solutions for most of their tasks and make time to focus on personal correspondence with patients and third parties.
- Overall efficiency comes from the coordination of the entire hospital staff. There should be clear guidelines about what to and what not to do.
This blog elaborates on the importance of communication in healthcare to enable you to implement effective strategies successfully. Also, we will discuss the barriers that providers might encounter while communicating with patients.
Why is Communication Important in Hospitals?
Effective communication between patients and healthcare professionals includes the exchange of medical data. It might also consist of conversing with the patient’s family, friends, and caretakers.
The primary purpose of communication in the hospital should be making the conversation two-way. The patient provides crucial details about their health history and current symptoms. And you make a diagnosis and create a care plan to treat them.
Proper correspondence with the patients and their caretakers allows you to provide better treatment and improve your brand image. Also, it boosts publicity and awareness among other people, which affects your patient acquisition rates massively.
Along with setting yourself apart from your competitors, it helps you stay away from legal trouble. In 2020-21, there were 12,629 malpractice claims against the NHS, proving that this figure is rising. Therefore, it is now more significant to focus on strategies for communication between patient and health professional.
Elements of Effective Communication in Hospital
Providers must master numerous aspects of hospital communication to function efficiently on a day-to-day basis, and they are:
Patient Safety
There are thousands of patient deaths every year because of medical negligence. Some patients also suffer temporary and permanent health damage because of it. Hence, providers are trying to do their best to prioritise their patients’ healthcare and enhance communication in hospital.
Diagnostic Decisions
The doctor’s diagnosis depends on the patient’s input about their symptoms. Thus, patients need to share the exact details to help their providers to improve diagnostic accuracy. Unfortunately, it is not what happens in most healthcare settings.
The communication between patient and healthcare professional is incomplete because of the patient’s hesitation to discuss their condition. Providers must work through it and make an accurate diagnosis before prescribing a care plan.
Adherence
A survey shows that one in five patients does not take all the medicines their doctor prescribed. 62% of people between 18 and 24 believe that call or text reminders can help them adhere to their prescription. Yet, it is shocking how many patients are willing to discontinue their healthcare plan abruptly, and one of the prime reasons is ineffective communication in hospital.
Lack of understanding between the doctor and patients leads to confusion and misinterpretation. Most patients throw their medicines away because they believe they don’t need them anymore. Other reasons they don’t adhere to their physician’s advice are:
- Cost concerns
- Disagreement between the patient and provider
- Side effects
- Hard-to-follow instructions, etc.
But, providers can improve such situations by understanding the importance of communication in healthcare. You can start by being transparent about your decisions and explaining them to the patients in a friendly way.
Patient Satisfaction, Acquisition, and Retention
The level of satisfaction your patients experience from your services depends on several things, including:
- Time spent for communication between patient and health professional.
- Decision-making
- Fulfilling patient expectations
- Clinical team
- Dignity, etc.
Hence, include these factors in your plans for improving communication in hospital. Try to give your patients a few options regarding the medication and overall treatment. Also, ask them their preferences so they can follow the prescription comfortably.
Remember that satisfied patients likely refer you to their friends and family. Thus, ensure that you offer continued services to patients and treat them well. These practices also help you spread the word about your services and get more patients to walk through your doors.
Collaborating With Different Teams
Lab technicians, nurses, doctors, and hospital staff need to be in constant touch to smoothen communication in hospital. It involves entering the correct details into shared databases, transmitting patient files, following up with colleagues on patients’ health plans, etc.
These interhospital strategies help providers understand why is communication important in hospitals and implement it properly.
Staff Satisfaction
Apart from your patients, try taking care of your staff’s needs and expectations. Most of your team members directly work in your patients’ care team. Thus, they need to be on the same page as you and prioritise the health of all your patients.
Intrahospital Vs. Interhospital Communication
You may need to draft different sets of correspondence programs and policies once you understand the importance of hospital communication. There are two broad categories you should take care of, and they are:
Interhospital Communication
This type of correspondence occurs between two or more healthcare organisations or sites. It includes transmissions of patient data between different hospitals or facilities of the same healthcare group. Also, it could mean sending files to a completely different organisation.
Transporting the required medical equipment, sharing test reports, and moving patients to different facilities all come under interhospital communication. It covers many more aspects than effective communication between patients and health professionals. Try laying down solid guidelines regarding how you manage patient data internally and which staff members get access to it.
But, it is hard to maintain effective internal communication in hospital and save the healthcare industry from losses worth billions of dollars. Inadequate communication can spike costs by creating the need for a second opinion or duplicate tests, which may not be necessary.
Intrahospital Communication
There might be some communication in hospital problems if your personnel don’t follow the prescribed rules and regulations. Hence, make a robust strategy to handle intrahospital communication within your organisation. It comprises several activities and events, like:
- Scheduling surgeries
- Setting up appointments
- Assigning and conducting tests
- Coordinating ward or room changes
- Sending appointment reminders to doctors to patients
- Entering precise patient data into the hospital’s CRM, etc.
Poor intrahospital communication can lead to severe complications, like record breaks, delays in offering the correct treatment to patients, and improper procedural coordination. Thus, providers should discuss the importance of communication in healthcare with every team member, irrespective of whether or not they are directly involved.
Barriers to Proper Communication Between Patient and Healthcare Professional
Before you get into solving the issues of communication in hospital, let us get to the obstructions you may have been facing along the way. Understanding the root cause can help you develop better formulas to overcome the challenges and have healthy patient-provider relationships.
Patient Distrust
It is hard for patients to trust you, primarily if they visit you for the first time. They might not feel comfortable disclosing details about their private life that might be vital for the diagnosis. Often, patients having sexual issues or suffering from alcohol abuse hesitate to reveal their symptoms, hampering patient-provider communication in hospital.
The most common reasons that patients withhold crucial medical data are:
- They feel that the physician won’t understand or help them
- They get intimidated by the healthcare provider because of ineffective communication in the hospital
- They are under psychological or physical trauma
- They feel that the provider isn’t paying attention to them
- They don’t want to sound vulnerable
- They feel disrespected by the medical staff
It is surprising how many people drop the idea of visiting a doctor for such reasons. Thus, the first issue that healthcare providers must address while enhancing the importance of hospital communication is addressing patient discomfort.
Language Barriers
Anything that prevents a patient from understanding what you are speaking is a barrier to effective communication in hospital. And language issues can top this list!
If a patient does not speak English, try to enquire if someone is accompanying them that knows the language. Otherwise, it is impossible to converse with the patient and treat them.
Giving Less Time to Every Patient
We understand how it is hard for physicians to give adequate time to every patient to facilitate communication in hospital. However, there are many disadvantages of rushing from one appointment to another. Your patients might think you are distracted and advise against people visiting you. They might change their provider after the first consultation if they feel you aren’t offering them the help they need.
Also, your patients might not get enough time to share all the details and help you diagnose their condition accurately, risking clinical errors. Thus, try to uphold the importance of hospital communication by listening to every patient closely.
Mismanaged Healthcare Data
As the demand for healthcare services increases, hospitals hire more people from time to time. It means that the number of staff members who can access patient files also increases. Therefore, there are higher chances of a data breach or mismanagement of patient files.
Try limiting access to crucial databases to only a patient’s care team. It allows you to keep patient information confidential and private, helping you enhance your communication in hospital programs.
Tips and Techniques to Improve Communication in Hospital
Despite facing several challenges while interacting with patients, healthcare providers can still do well. Below, we have mentioned some simple strategies to make patients comfortable and show them how much you care about the importance of hospital communication:
When First Engaging With Patients
The first communication between patients and healthcare professionals can make a broad difference in acquisition and retention rates. Therefore, channel most of your strategies toward winning your patients’ trust during the first interaction:
- Introduce yourself: Most physicians come in and start interviewing the patient. However, it is not the right way to start a conversation with patients for the first time. Thus, introduce yourself by your name and designation as the first step towards enhancing communication in hospital.
- Sit down: Avoid pacing around your office while listening to a patient’s health condition because it can obstruct your communication in hospital. It makes you look aloof and causes them to withhold some of their concerns. Thus, try being at the same level as them by sitting down and having a decent conversation.
- Be polite: If your patients are elderly, offer them a glass of water. It is a simple act that leaves a lasting impression on everyone. Try being polite to every patient and prevent judging them for anything. Instead, make them feel confident they can recover by following your prescription. It is one of the best examples of effective communication in healthcare.
- Hire interpreters: Providers that get patients speaking other languages should hire culturally-competent staff. It is one of the basic steps to undertake if you want to work on your communication in hospital. Interpreters help you tend to the needs of all your patients equally.
- Enquiring about the patient’s preferences: Do not assume that the patients want to share every detail about their healthcare with their family members. Some might want to handle everything themselves and not involve a third person. Thus, enquire about these things beforehand while prioritising the importance of communication in healthcare.
- Ask questions: Your patients might be unaware of what information is relevant to their diagnosis and what isn’t. Thus, try asking open-ended questions to get them to speak. It also helps you form personal bonds with your patients because these questions create an impression that you care about them.
- Show empathy: Empathy is a crucial factor you should consider incorporating to increase the quality of communication in hospital. Validate your patient’s feelings and assure them that everything will be alright. It sounds basic, but the fast-paced nature of healthcare services restricts physicians from showing kindness.
- Discuss goals: Always discuss the goals of a specific care plan with your patients to add value to the communication between patients and healthcare professionals. Tell them about the duration of their treatment and what they should expect along the way.
- Be open about costs: Talk to people about the treatment costs and how much their insurance can cover. Offer to provide discounted services if possible and redirect them to other institutions if they cannot afford them.
- Send thank-you letters: You can use direct mail for several purposes, from sending thank-you letters to existing patients to distributing marketing postcards. Try using PostGrid’s direct mail services to automate offline mailing and save time.
When Transferring Patient Care to Another Professional
Hospitals, clinics, dental offices, etc., should work towards effective communication between healthcare professionals. It is necessary during the times they need to transmit data to other organisations for a patient’s further treatment.
For instance, suppose a patient needs a neurologist, and your hospital does not have one. In that case, you would transfer them to a different hospital with a specialist who can treat them. Thus, always be prepared to conduct intra-organisational communication in hospital.
- Request patients before you transfer their files elsewhere. Ask them if they have some other specialist they would instead like to visit.
- Discuss the patient’s wellbeing with their carers if the patient is comfortable with the same. It allows you to improve your brand reputation and increase the quality of your communication in healthcare.
- Explain to the patient why they need a transition of care and inform them of the estimated time frames.
- Acknowledge their preferences and refer them to a hospital they can comfortably reach.
- Transfer patient data to other professionals using lawfully-acceptable methods. Secure channels like direct mail can help you transmit medical documents to third parties legally and safely. If you need assistance with communication in healthcare, use PostGrid’s automated direct mailing API to send files online.
When Discharging Patients
Your responsibility regarding a patient’s healthcare does not get over after discharge from your hospital. Inform patients and their caretakers about the steps they need to take and if they should be coming back for routine checkups.
Also, you must provide a discharge summary to patients as part of your compliance communication in hospital. The prime elements of this summary are:
- Warning signs or symptoms the patient might experience and how to deal with them
- The name and contact number of a healthcare professional or staff member who patients can contact
- Any upcoming tests and appointments
- Details regarding ongoing medication
There are a couple of more things you can do to make your communication in hospital better:
- Conduct a follow-up call with every patient post-discharge
- Encourage patients to follow the care plan religiously, but consider their ability and willingness to do so
How Can PostGrid’s Direct Mail Solutions Help You Facilitate Communication in Hospital?
PostGrid offers online print and mail API services to all healthcare providers, including dental offices, physician practices, hospitals, test centres, etc. Here are some examples of marketing and transactional mail that you can send via PostGrid to improve communication in hospital:
- Lab invoices
- Test reports
- Discharge summaries
- Assent and consent forms
- Appointment confirmations and reminders
- Bills and payment receipts
- Health records.
- Patient statements
- Marketing inserts like postcards and flyers
- Patient circulars, newsletters, etc.
- Letters of appreciation to medical staff
- No-show letters to patients, etc.
Our solutions are curated to serve organisations of all sizes. You can select one of our pricing plans and send offline mail according to your budget and needs. Also, PostGrid offers:
- Pre-built design templates
- Address verification and list compilation
- Real-time tracking
- Campaign insights and analytics
- Wide range of collateral
- Zapier integration, etc.
Integrate our direct mail API into your system and regulate your communication in hospital, depending on your requirements.
Wrapping Up
We no longer live in an era where patients don’t expect anything much from their providers. They would follow the doctor’s instructions and stick with the same provider for years. However, today, you will see patients switching from one physician to another if they aren’t satisfied with their services.
Hence, effective communication between patient and healthcare professional is gaining more significance. And you must tap into new strategies to create better relationships with your patients and drive more conversions.
Luckily, PostGrid helps you improve your marketing correspondence to bring in more patients and retain your current ones. Also, we are compliant with the Data Protection Act and GDPR, allowing you to mail crucial medical documents safely and lawfully.
Click here to learn more regarding PostGrid’s direct mail services that can help you boost your communication in healthcare at low rates!
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