Communication is an essential management tool in any organization. Communication helps the management pass important updates and instructions to the workers and get feedback from them and thus it is an integral factor in effective management (Deland et al., 9). Therefore, for healthcare facilities to be successful, they must develop comprehensive strategies and policies for communicating with all the stakeholders, the employees and the care-users. Internal communication takes place between employees and serves as a link to the management (Eisenberg, 11). The essay will discuss the importance of a comprehensive communication plan and the modern techniques that aid communication.
Purpose of the study
The topic is critical to help organizations acclimate to changes in the competitive world to achieve profitability and sustainability. In addition, in the contemporary medical industry, the care of patients involves many diverse persons and thus requiring sharing of data to deliberate their management. Therefore, there is need to adapt information and communication skills to support health facilities.
Literature review
According to Eisenberg (p. 17), health care managers are experiencing new challenges in the rapidly developing healthcare industry. The managers therefore need to be visionary and most critically, effectively communicate their vision to the important players. Staffs perceive communication as vital and that it affects their behavior and performance. In addition, internal communication stimulates a positive social environment that allows cooperation and increased motivation and job satisfaction, which in turn leads to increased organizational performance (Saha et al., 45). Effective internal communication increases the employee involvement and reduces their turnover. Gonçalves‐Bradley et al. (p. 112) noted that most hospitals are ignorant about the need for effective internal communication and thus do not allocate sufficient resources to invest in modern communication tools.
The basic management needs in communication are based on change management, conflict resolution, decision-making, organizational culture, human resource management and use of technologies (Ahmed et al., p. 52). Communication has become a strategic component that influences quality of the medical services offered to patients. Also, effective communication between health providers responsible for the same patient has been concluded to be important to satisfactory services (Deland et al., 29). Broken internal communication would cause safety threats to the patients. About 80% of serious medical errors are caused by miscommunication between health providers when handling patients (Deland et al., 39). The miscommunication may lead to many deaths, high medical costs and prolonged stays in the hospital. Therefore, the management is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring there is effective internal communication throughout the organization.
New Techniques
The big data tools
Hospitals have vast quantities of data and thus to get the best from it, they are using modern information and communication technologies for data analytics to be able to identify opportunities, challenges and trends in the medical industry (Gonçalves‐Bradley et al., 137). The big data analytics tools are giving healthcare facilities cost benefits and increasing the quality of services they offer to their clients. The management is able to identify trends and communicate their decisions to the entire organization.
Electronic Health Records
Hospitals are investing in EHRs to document all the data of their patients from the time they enter the hospital throughout the care process to completion (Saha et al., 61). Therefore, the medical practitioners are able to transfer their patients safely to avoid miscommunication or a break in communication, which would be expensive and unsafe for the patient.
ICT Hardware
Health facilities are also investing in modern communication hardware to facilitate effective internal communication (Ahmed et al., 76). For instance, video conferencing allows staff to hold face-to-face meetings even when in different geographic locations. They are able to see the body language, which is critical for effective communication and can demonstrate procedures necessary for patient’s care.
Social media Networks
Organizations are using social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype among others to facilitate internal communicate (Saha et al. 65). The staffs create closed user groups where they can discuss policies and work-related information. They can also send messages or make video calls on the same platform to allow smooth transfer of patients from one health personnel to the other.
Effects of new techniques
The big data analysis tools have helped health care facilities to utilize the data they have accumulated over time and make informed decisions based on past experiences. Big data systems are management tools that help management make decisions and formulate policies that they communicate to the staff for implementation. The electronic health record tools are helping the hospitals store patient’s data electronically and making it easy for retrieval. The staff refer to the patient’s medical history for use before handling them, thus can avoid making medical errors. The social media platforms are also making communication efficient, in that many clinicians can have a discussion without having to meet physically thus saving on time and cost.
Conclusion
Communication is critical for the effective operations in hospitals. It helps motivate the employees and create a healthy working environment. The motivation and job satisfaction leads to improved employee performance, thus the patients get proper health care. Effective communication helps reduce the possible medical errors that maybe life threatening and expensive for the patients. Hospitals are embracing modern techniques to improve their internal communication. They are adapting bid data analysis tools, electronic health technologies, modern communication hardware and social networks to enhance the internal communication flow.
Works Cited
Ahmed, Sheeraz, et al. "Integration of cloud computing with Internet of Things and wireless body area network for effective healthcare." Wireless Systems and Networks (ISWSN), 2017 International Symposium on. IEEE, 2017.
Deland, Emme, Jonathan E. Gordon, and Robert E. Kelly. "Let’s talk about improving communication in healthcare." Columbia Medical Review 1.1 (2018).
Eisenberg, Eric M. "The social construction of healthcare teams." Improving Healthcare Team Communication. CRC Press, 2017. 9-20.
Gonçalves‐Bradley, Daniela C., et al. "Mobile‐based technologies to support client to healthcare provider communication and management of care." The Cochrane Library (2018).
Saha, Himadri Nath, et al. "Internet of Thing based healthcare monitoring system." Information Technology, Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference (IEMCON), 2017 8th IEEE Annual. IEEE, 2017.
