The Most Solvable Communication Issues In Healthcare

Solvable Communication Issues In Healthcare

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Mass notification technology and telehealth applications can improve communication with employees, patients, and other stakeholders which can boost engagement and morale for any healthcare provider.
Hucu is doing exactly that. Hucu.ai is a HIPAA Compliant Text Messaging App that can be seamlessly incorporated in all the processes within a healthcare organization. It is easy to use and provides the majority of the functionalities and features that can eliminate communication challenges in healthcare.
While Hucu.ai and other such telehealth technologies exist, hospitals and healthcare providers in the industry still face communication issues and challenges that can cause financial, operations, strategies, and reputational damage. Here are the top six communication challenges faced by the healthcare industry and how Hucu.ai can help resolve them.

Antiquated Technology

Faces, pagers, radios, and telephones do have their place but they do not offer quick and effective information to multiple people. These tools are used for one-to-one communication and require manual replication to share the information to other stakeholders (i.e. you have to individually page everyone or to individually call everyone to let them know something of importance).
In an article by Insights, Darlene Duncan – a registered nurse for 25 years – shares her experience with the old school technology. She carries three devices to work: a charge nurse flip phone, a beeper, and a voice-activated device to locate her team. She says:
“Our greatest continuing challenge is timely communication. “I need one device to communicate with my staff and physicians, and to interface with the EHR. Instead, I have all three devices, all the time, physically attached to me. Even the physicians in our hospital use a very antiquated beeper system. Sometimes I don’t even need the doctor to call me back. I just need to inform him about something, but I have to page him, and he has to stop and call me, and I have to stop what I’m doing to answer the phone. Other times, I have a patient in a critical state, and I need the doctor now. If I could call or text directly, it would save time and potentially lives.”
“Our greatest continuing challenge is timely communication. “I need one device to communicate with my staff and physicians, and to interface with the EHR. Instead, I have all three devices, all the time, physically attached to me. Even the physicians in our hospital use a very antiquated beeper system. Sometimes I don’t even need the doctor to call me back. I just need to inform him about something, but I have to page him, and he has to stop and call me, and I have to stop what I’m doing to answer the phone. Other times, I have a patient in a critical state, and I need the doctor now. If I could call or text directly, it would save time and potentially lives.”
This gives us valuable insight into the core of the communication problem faced by many staff members like Duncan.

Manual Alert Increases Vulnerability

Printed notices can cause technological and reputational risks if they get thrown away, misplaced, or lost. This exposes the facility of the healthcare provider to vulnerabilities. The notice can go in the wrong hands and create a security breach or cause the spread of misinformation. Mishandling or protected information is a major concern.

Solution: The push notification feature in Hucu can convey important information only to the relevant eyes instantly. The application is password protected and has a biometric login feature which ensures only the authorized person is accessing it.

Spend less time chasing communications with Hucu.ai

Shifts Not Filed On Time

Patients always need medical supervision when they are hospitalized. If the healthcare provider is short of staff, then there is a need to quickly fill shifts. Usually hospitals and healthcare providers make manual calls to off-duty employees and this is an ineffective, slow process. Also, this process requires multiple people making calls and trying to fill shifts. Shifts may get filled but slow communication results in wastage of time and manpower.

Solution: Hucu app allows the healthcare provider to create a specific channel for off-duty employees that can be notified of a potential shift instantly with just one message. Whoever is available can reply back instantly – also notifying others that the shift has been filled. What takes hours to do can be done within a couple of minutes and this requires only one person to send the message. Hucu is one of the best Healthcare Communication Solutions that also saves manpower hours and call costs incurred by the traditional method of filling shifts.

Timely Delivery of Information

When there is a situation that needs attention quickly or if there is a change in policy, printed notices or phone calls are not the best way to give out more information. Healthcare employees work different shifts on different hours so engaging them all on a regular basis is a difficult task. Even if healthcare providers provide lockers or on-site mailboxes for printed information sharing – it does not guarantee that the information was received and read by the recipient. There will be a high number of employees claiming they did not see the information with the flyer system and it could cause liability issues.

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Solution: Using Hucu, healthcare providers can send out individual messages to staff members who will be notified of the important information and can reply back confirming they have received it. Hucu offers transparency and accountability on all fronts that ensure information is imparted and received without wasting time and resources.

With Hucu.ai, get messages and updates in real time

Alerting Different Groups of Stakeholders In a Crisis

Notifying a large group of different stakeholders of dangerous situations and crises such as infectious disease outbreak, medical lockdown, missing patients, evacuation, and others – is a difficult task. It requires a detailed communication plan including contingencies and legacy planning. Such notification needs to take place instantly in order to save patients and employees. Calling on phones manually will require hours and that’s something healthcare providers can’t afford in a crisis.

Solution: Hucu app allows healthcare providers to create different groups of stakeholders. Healthcare providers can also customize their communication messages for each group so that relevant information is given to the right group of stakeholders. All of this can happen in real-time and instantly. Groups can also pour in suggestions to resolve real-time problems in times of crisis.

Lack of Mobile EHR Access

Healthcare is a mobile profession inherently since the doctors are running from hospitals to clinics and nurses are always rushing from one patient’s room to the other’s. However,, most healthcare organizations, hospital communications are not mobile. Medical staff can only access patient medical records from shared computers in the facility or nurses’ stations. This wastes time and can end up delaying information that could save a life.

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Solution: Hucu.ai offers real-time messaging and secured end-to-end encryption of the patient’s medical record that can be shared through the app. Hucu.ai is a HIPAA compliant application that allows the sharing of patient data securely, quickly, and efficiently.
Healthcare providers are ready for smartphone-based communication channels. Modern technology and telehealth can resolve most of the issues in healthcare communication and save lives, time, manpower, and resources.
Information source: Samsung.com, Virtru.com, Remver.com
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