Common communication issues in healthcare

Disucuss about the Communication issues in healthcare management.

The purpose of this paper focuses on a communication issue in the healthcare sector. One of the common issues is that the staffs do not answer the questions of the patients sympathetically. Furthermore, this paper consists of a communication plan, which identifies the problem and comes with a strategy to fix this problem. Moreover, this communication plan also analyses the stakeholders of the hospital. Furthermore, it also contains the effective communication channels through which the information is provided to them. Moreover, this paper will also evaluate the effectiveness of the communication plan.    

Effective communication is necessary for a healthcare setting in order to provide better quality services to the patients. There are several types of communication issues within a healthcare organization, these are provider-to-provider communication issues and provider to patient communication issues. Unsympathetic response to the queries of the patient by the providers is one of the main communication issues within the hospital[1].  As a result, the patients do not know about their ailments and their medication. They also do not know about the health promotion plans of the organization. The reasons for choosing this topic is to understand the reasons for this communication gap as well as figure out a way to overcome this gap.

Identification  

A communication plan aims to rectify the communication issue between patients and doctors, thus benefiting the organization.   

Stakeholder analysis

Stakeholders play a significant role in the management of a healthcare organization. A hospital consists of both internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders of a health organization are as follows:

Board of Directors

The Board of members can play a crucial role in the in the implementation of the communication strategies. They have control over the strategic resources of the organization, budgets, and they also have the relevant skills necessary for the improvement of external communication[2].

Clinicians

Patients and their family members communicate directly with the clinicians regarding any of their queries. So they can have a significant influence on the implementation of the communication strategy and promote the health services of the organization.[3]

Staffs

Aside from the physicians, other staffs of the organization also have a significant role in the implementation of the strategy. They can also provide the necessary information about the various health plans of the organization.     

Auxiliary members

Auxiliary members and volunteers of the healthcare organization also play a significant role in educating the patients and their family members about the plans of the organization.     

Importance of effective communication in healthcare

The external stakeholders of the healthcare organization are as follows:

Patients and their family members

Development of a new communication strategy will help the patients and their family members to learn about the various programs of the organization[4]. It will also help them to clear any doubts regarding their treatment and their medications.       

Residents

Residents are those individuals, who are training in a specialized area of medicine. They are simultaneously studying and providing care to the patients. Thus they play an influential role in improving the quality of external communication with the patients. 

Advisory committee members

The advisory committee members of the hospital. plays a crucial role in the implementation of the communication strategy. They can evaluate the benefits of the communication program and develop further developed strategies to improve the communication channels.      

Municipal leaders and Members of Parliament

The municipal leaders and Members of the Parliament also play a vital role in the implementation of the communication strategy.  They can corporate with the internal stakeholders and help them to properly implement the strategy.  They can provide valuable feedback after evaluating the strategies.

Media

The management of the organization can increase the awareness of their programs and the strategies among their patients and their family members. Media can be an effective tool to spread the news of the topic among the community.        

There are several ways the issues of communication in the healthcare organization can be solved by the management[5].  These are training the employees, improvement of internal communication within the organization, etc. To increase the effectiveness of the healthcare management, the focus should be given to the maintaining a positive relationship with the local leaders, Members of Parliament and the media. However, in this case, the strategy which will be most beneficial for the organization is to train and educate their employees about effective communication.  Onsite training will be provided to them so that they can identify the strengths and weaknesses of their communication skills and learn how to improve them[6]. A communications program can improve the quality of external communication within the organization. The staffs can be taught to interact with the patients in a positive way and answer any of their queries effectively. A focus group should be conducted with the employees of the organization in order to identify their weaknesses and strengths. Additional focus should be given to educating the staffs of the organization about the various policies and programs of the organization, so that they can convey this information without creating any doubts[7]. The employees should be encouraged to maintain positive relationships with the patients and their family. The strategy can be developed in board meetings with the help of Board of Directors and other partners of the organization.

Stakeholders in healthcare communication

The key messages of the healthcare organization align with their mission and vision statement which is to provide better quality services to their patients.  Gaps in communication affect the effectiveness of the health care services provided to the patients. Due to this gap, the patients have little to no knowledge regarding their treatment details. The new strategy aims to improve the quality of the external communication within the organizational setting. The employees of the organization, such as the doctors, other medical staffs, patients and their family members are contributing in some way to this problem. The quality of the services provided to the patients depends on the level of communication among the patients and doctors. It also depends on the level of internal communication among the employees of the organization. With the help of communication strategy developed specifically to improve the quality level of communication within the hospital. It will also allow the patients to clear their doubts regarding their treatment and medications. The key messages of this communication plan are as follows:

The management of the hospital has one goal, which is to put the priorities of the patients first and clarify any of their doubts. The primary goal of the organization is to provide better quality services to the patients and their families[8]. The Board of Directors, clinicians and other employees of the organization plays a key role in maintaining the quality of external communication. The management has given additional focus on training their employees.  They are updated on the level of improvements on a regular basis. Detailed information about the strategy is given to them periodically, to collect their insights on the implementation of the strategy.         

The Board of Directors along with other stakeholders, internal and external is dedicated to improving the quality of communication within the organization.  It will also enable the community to be aware of the health of the organization. This can be achieved with the help of media as well as other activities conducted by the healthcare organization. The patients and their families will be aware of the strategies to ensure openness of communication channels within the organization[9]. The Board of Directors, along with other internal stakeholders are provided with detail information about the topic on a timely basis. Members of the Parliament is also provided with details about the program on a regular basis. The patients do not have detailed access to the information, as they do not need to have all the information regarding the strategy. They also want to have access to some of this information periodically. 

Solving communication issues in healthcare

The Board of Directors prefers to receive the information regarding the strategy implementation within the organization either through emails, newsletters, personal briefing or through teleconference. They also want to gain information through team meetings.  The employees of the organization, such as clinicians and other staffs prefer to gain information from notice boards, emails, newsletters and through team meeting[10]. Media, patients, and their family members can be notified social media notifications, posters, notice board etc. However, there are no communication channels which fulfills the requirement of all the stakeholders of the healthcare organizations. However, the effective communication channels to provide information to the internal stakeholders of the organization is by conducting team meetings. Another effective way of providing information to them is to use emails, newsletters. The information can be provided to the media through social media posts and press conference. The patients and their family can get the information from notice boards, social media posts, posters etc.       

Stakeholders/ Communication channels	Newsletter	Email	Social media	Team meetings and briefings	Teleconference	Noticeboard	Posters
Clinicians	ü	ü		ü		ü
Staffs	ü	ü		ü		ü
Board of Directors	ü	ü		ü	ü
Auxiliary members		ü		ü	ü
Residents		ü	ü	ü		ü
Advisory committee members		ü		ü	ü
Municipal leaders		ü		ü	ü
Members of Parliament		ü
Media			ü	ü			ü
Patients and their family members	ü	ü	ü			ü	ü

For the proper implementation of the plan, the message should be conveyed to the right stakeholders through the right channels. The message of quality and organizational health should be conveyed through communication channels like briefings, team meetings, notice boards, etc.  The timeline considered for the successful implementation of the communication is estimated between three to six months. Its implementation requires support from all the stakeholders of the organization, both internal and external[11].  Both patients and the clinicians need to understand their role in improving the quality of communication of the healthcare organization. The Board of Directors should be supportive of the strategies implemented in the setting. The strategy chosen for the improvement of communication levels within the organization is to train the employees[12]. The doctors and other staffs of the hospital should know how to communicate effectively with the patients and their family members. They should be able to clear their doubts with convenient ease. The staffs of the hospital should know about the various programs, to answer any of the queries of the patients. A substantial amount of resource is required for successful implementation of the plan. Adequate infrastructure is also required for this purpose.  The potential risk factors of the strategy can be lack of these two factors within the organization[13].  Financial restraints can further delay the successful implementation of the strategy as well as the communication plan[14]. The stakeholders need to understand the need for change in the strategy, which can be a potential risk are as well[15].      

Key messages of the healthcare organization

The outcome measures of this strategy are positive and it can be measured after a certain time. Positive interaction between the patients and the staff will be a clear indicator, whether or not the outcomes are achieved. The progress of the strategy would be monitored for a longer duration to measure the level of success in the long run[16].  The monitoring will be done on a regular basis, and adjustments should be made according to the requirements. The focus should be given to engaging the staff of the organization with the whole process.

Conclusion

This communication plan focuses on improving the quality of internal communication within the organization.  Effective communication is necessary for increasing the effectiveness and quality of the services of the organization. This paper concludes that the organization needed a communication plan to improve the quality of internal communication.  Communication affects all the stakeholders of the organization, and they also have an influence on the communication within the organization.  The key message of this plan is quality of service and organizational health. Selection of effective communication channels is necessary for the successful implementation of the plan.  Lack of financial resources and infrastructure may be the potential risk factors for the implementation of the plan.

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