HCS 490: Effective Communication In Healthcare

Communications Paper

HCS 490
2/10/2014

Communications Paper
In order for any business to operate efficiently, there are many things that need to be in place. One aspect that is possibly one of the most important is communication. Without effective communication, there is potential for many things to go wrong. In healthcare, there are many different forms of communication. A newer, but growing form of communication is Electronic Medical Records (EMR). EMRs are a computerized system for communication between physicians regarding patient’s medical information. Although an effective form of communication, there can be some drawbacks to this method of communication.
According to Awokola, Abioye-Kuteyi, Otoru, Oyegbade, Awokola,
Having all the patients information stored electronically is easier than paper charts in almost every way. Updating information, finding information, and adding notations, can now be done with a few clicks. Gone are the days when you would have to search through filing cabinets, through hundreds of other files, to find what you need. Patient records may also be pulled up by any physician that is directly involved in that patient’s care. This gets rid of any middle men when trying to get information from labs, to specialists, and back to the primary care physician. Keeping with the going green theme, and eliminating paper charts, EMRs also help by eliminating the need for hand written prescriptions. Physicians can now electronically send prescriptions to the pharmacy of choice, which also helps the customer by getting rid of the need for multiple trips by the patient. This is possible through digital signatures. According to Chen, & Lin (2011) “Digital signatures are valid to be used in private communication on the basis of an agreement among all related parties. All specific digital contents are capable of being encrypted and decrypted to ensure their integrity and
Many organizations have chosen to use this as a benefit to their companies. Sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn can be used to relay news and help to expand their business. These forms of networking may also help an organization to improve, since comments can be left by patrons. Valuable information can be found on these sites as well. Patients may also use these sites to communicate with other patients about past experiences at that facility or to get general information. This can be an important aspect, since many people like to get feedback before choosing a healthcare facility to go to.
EMRs are a key factor in communication in the healthcare field today. With the requirement that all facilities must switch over to this method by a certain date, it will soon be a field wide standard that will benefit both patient and provider. Although there are some concerns about patient privacy, this is minor compared to the effectiveness of the EMRs. EMRs will increase productivity and allow more time to be spent on patient care. Social networking may not play a direct role in electronic medical records, but it is another example of how communication is changing from the traditional