Healthcare Communication

Are you having trouble with your healthcare communication system? Are you struggling to optimize the communication of your healthcare organization?

Implementing effective and efficient communication is one of the hardest challenges for any healthcare organization. Advancements in technology and the arrival of automated solutions have significantly improved communication in healthcare organizations.

However, many organizations still struggle to implement these advanced solutions successfully. Hence, here we will discuss in detail the significance of communication in healthcare organizations and how you can optimize it efficiently.

Communication in healthcare can often be complex and multi-levelled. It involves communication between healthcare professionals and interactions with the patient. Additionally, it involves verbal and written strategies used to influence

• Individuals
• Populations
• Communities  

It is also worth noting that communication for healthcare organizations utilizes multiple models and theories. Healthcare providers use these models and theories to bring a positive attitude among the masses about healthcare.

Some of the best healthcare communication and social marketing strategies you can use are listed below.

1. Research-Based Strategies

When it comes to the healthcare industry, never underestimate the value and effectiveness of research-based strategies. Develop research-based services and even products to pitch your healthcare offering to the public. 

Additionally, you must be careful when you pick something that delivers the message to the target audience. For example, direct mail is often considered a more professional and reliable form of communication than online channels. 

2. Cultural And Setting Considerations

Communication of all kinds, including healthcare communication, is closely associated with different cultures and settings. Hence your communication strategies need to be considerate about the same. Failing to do so could result in failed campaigns and even affect your reputation.

Healthcare organizations must understand conventional wisdom for different cultures and settings. Furthermore, healthcare entities should consider the language, concepts, and priorities prevailing in different cultures.

3. Understanding The Target Audience

As with any communication and marketing strategy, it is crucial to understand the target audience. It would be best to consider several factors influencing the decision of the target audience or target population.

Health literacy is one of the prime considerations in healthcare communication because healthcare terms are not always understood equally by everyone. Hence, healthcare organizations must consider other aspects such as internet access, media exposure, etc., of the target audience.

4. Using Print Media For Healthcare Communication

Print media still plays a vital role in healthcare communication, and there is no denying that. Postcards, brochures, newspaper articles, billboards, pamphlets etc., play a critical role in health communication. The public generally trusts the print media and considers them more reliable.

Healthcare organizations can use advanced direct mail software like PostGrid for printing and delivering their communication material. Using an automated print and mail solution enables you to avoid errors and easy personalization of your communication material.

5. Sit Down For A Detailed Interaction

Communication in healthcare largely depends on the interaction you have with the patients. However, this aspect of communication often goes ignored (although unintentionally) when the healthcare professional interacts with the patient personally. 

Ideally, the patient and the healthcare professional need to talk long during hospital visits or check-ins. Such an approach will play a vital role in establishing trust with the patients. Furthermore, such interactions feel more intimate and encourage the patient to share all their healthcare information.

6. Always Ask Open-Ended Questions

Sometimes, It is not easy for patients to share their healthcare information, and they may not feel like voicing their health concerns. It can lead to several problems in healthcare communication. Furthermore, it can happen even after having an empathetic conversation with the patient.

Hence, doctors and other healthcare professionals should always use open-ended questions. Just asking the patients whether they have anything more to say can do wonders to your health communication. 

Edging the patients on with an open-end question allows them to reflect on their thoughts and voice their concerns. 

BATHE Technique

The BATHE technique is an efficient way to ensure the quality of communication in healthcare organizations. It allows healthcare providers to ask questions to the patients in a way that solicits more information from them.

B – Background: Enquire the patient about their background or current situation 

A – Affect: Ask the patient how their health concern affects them emotionally/physically.

T – Trouble: Question the patient about their problems or trouble regarding their present condition.

H – Handling: Ask the patient how they handle or deal with their current health condition.

E – Empathy: Ensure that the patient knows that you listened to their problems and acknowledge the issue with a verbal agreement.

7. Use Simple And Easy To Understand Language

Medical jargon is often too complicated and incomprehensible for the general public. Hence, it would be best to avoid complex medical terms in healthcare communication. Instead, healthcare providers should use easy-to-understand and straightforward language in all their communication points.

However, it is not always easy to do this and sometimes, using medical jargon in your communications is inevitable. What you can do in such cases is define the medical term so that the patient can easily understand what it is about.

Doing so enables you to have two-way communication with the patients instead of the healthcare provider doing all the talking.

8. Ensure Confidentiality of Healthcare Communication

Technically speaking, most healthcare professionals in an organization can access a patient’s healthcare data. However, that does not mean that they should. Confidentiality is vital for healthcare communication.

Ensure that access to individual health records is limited based on a need-to-know basis. In other words, only the patient’s healthcare team should access their medical records. It also means that healthcare organizations should avoid casual discussions of the patient’s health issues outside the group.

9. Use of Interpreters or Culturally Competent Staff

Cultural differences can often become a sensitive subject with patients, and you need to avoid such issues at all costs. Healthcare providers need to ensure that their healthcare setting is an open and safe space for every person that needs medical treatment.

Any form of discrimination, such as racism, xenophobia, classism, homophobia, etc., should not be tolerated in a healthcare setting. Furthermore, you must show that you accept people of all backgrounds in your healthcare communication.

If needed, appoint interpreters for effective communication within your healthcare organization. It is the fundamental right of every individual to hear and be heard by a healthcare provider. The patient is also entitled to culturally competent treatment.

PIPEDA, short for Personal Information Protection Electronic Documents Act, is a privacy law in Canada. It protects the personal information of individuals and governs the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data by private sector organizations.

PIPEDA is one of the significant legal regulations that protect the healthcare data of Canadian citizens and plays a vital role in healthcare communication. Usually, PIPEDA-covered entities are required to obtain the consent of individuals whenever they collect data from them.

PIPEDA And Healthcare Information

PIPEDA is not an act that applies exclusively to healthcare information. It protects the personally identifiable information of individuals across all digital platforms. The personally identifiable information of an individual includes

• ID numbers
• Income  
• Medical records 

PIPEDA vs. HIPAA

HIPAA or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a privacy law that safeguards the Protected Health Information of US citizens. In many ways, PIPEDA and HIPAA compliances are the same. However, there are a few very distinguishable differences between the two.

The most significant difference between PIPEDA and HIPAA in healthcare communication is their applicability. PIPEDA is applied to every field or industry regardless of which entity uses the personal information of individuals.

On the other hand, HIPAA is explicitly created to safeguard PHI or Protected Health Information. Once an organization collects data from a Canadian, the organization becomes responsible for the data. However, such regulations don’t apply to the organization under HIPAA if it does not deal with PHI.

 Also Read: Laws Regarding Direct Mail Marketing

Healthcare communication is usually preferably carried out over face-to-face interaction. However, written/printed communication is the most widely used communication model in the healthcare industry by all practical means.

Face-To-Face Healthcare Communication

There is no better way than a face-to-face conversation to get a full-blown discussion going. Face-to-face conversations enable all the parties involved to hear and see each other. Perceiving body language and facial expressions enhance your communication.

A few years ago, all healthcare communication was face-to-face, but that has significantly changed. Even though video conferencing uses modern technology, we can also classify it as face-to-face communication.

It is also undeniable that direct communication in healthcare has significantly reduced in the past few years. Other communication channels like email have now gained popularity because of their superior convenience.

Written/Printed Healthcare Communication

Despite the advancement of technology, a significant part of healthcare communication still happens through written/printed mediums. The most widely used written communication in healthcare is referral or discharge letters.

Referral letters can be further divided into three categories

• Assessment/treatment requests
• Second opinion requests
• Mutual responsibility requests

Furthermore, a healthcare organization sends several other forms of written or printed letters to its patients. Patient statements, lab reports, invoices, etc., are some of the commonly printed documents sent to the customer.

The print requirement for healthcare communication is often in bulk. Hence, the best choice for healthcare organizations is to employ a print and direct mail automation tool like PostGrid. Using an automated system saves you valuable time and money and streamlines your communication system.

 Also Read: What are Bulk Mail Services?