Health Care Communication Methods Free Essays

Health Care Communication Methods HCS 320 October 22, 2012 Professor Health Care Communication Methods As the Communication Coordinator for this national drug manufacturer, today we will need to brainstorm and discuss how we will address the negative effects that our medications are causing to the public. The local news has already started the witch hunt by allegedly reporting that our local mayor has suffered from adverse affects from our medications. How can we address the public regarding this issue without losing business and the trust we created with our investors and our consumers? In today’s meeting we will decide which communication tactic is most suitable for this situation, while making sure that we do not break any HIPAA guidelines. We will write a custom essay sample on Health Care Communication Methods or any similar topic only for you Order Now We will start by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using traditional media. Traditional media can include newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. There are some great advantages on why these media outlets would be great in reaching our audience regarding this health scare. Two great methods are newspapers and magazines; they can help because we can be precise and explicit when discussing our issue. Additionally, these methods would provide use with a permanent record of our attempt to reach the public (Advantages and disadvantages of written communication, 2012). Two other good methods are radio and television. These methods are great because they are cost effective, allow us to reach our audience directly and allow us to show emotion and concern regarding this matter. All these methods seem like they would work but there are disadvantages with sticking to traditional media outlets instead of using electronic or social media sites. Some main concerns we have with using traditional media is that it can only reach a limited amount of people and we are restricted to a small scope of listeners and readers. Additionally, feedback is not immediate like electronic or social media sites (Comparison of traditional media with electronic media, n. d). Electronic and social media sites also have their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to communicating to the public regarding health concerns. Some advantages electronic media provides is that the message can be communicated to large number of people at a time, any message can be sent and delivered in no time, and a variety of audio, video, text can be used in one single medium (Advantages and disadvantages of written communication, 2012). Even though all of these seem like great ways to communicate with the public regarding drug manufacturing issues there are some disadvantages to using electronic and social media sites (Comparison of traditional media with electronic media, n. d). Some are that it is less intimate, it can be expensive to hire someone to program the sites and manage them, and it gives us limited access in rural areas. Nevertheless the chart below shows that there has been a substantial growth with people accessing healthcare information from electronic and social media sites. Graphic from â€Å"Study Predicts Growing Use of Social Media in Healthcare† (Levin, 2012) Another concern we have at the moment is also that we need to make sure that we stay within HIPAA and other regulations guidelines when using any form of media. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) established new standards for the confidentiality, security, and transmissibility of health care information. There are three types of standards created by HIPAA: privacy, security, and administrative simplification (e. g. , transaction standards). Taken together, these regulations have a major impact on the day-to-day functioning of the nation’s hospitals and affect virtually every department of every entity that provides or pays for health care (American Hospital Association: HIPAA, 2012). It is important that we be careful with whatever we chose to say in our press conference regarding the drug manufacturing issues and that we do not reveal any patient names, private information, or breach any confidentiality. After having reviewed all the information I feel confident to say that we will need to use both sets of media for us to make sure we reach all of our patients in a non-alarming but swift way. We need to make sure patients that are using the drug stop immediately. Therefore, we will send our marketing director down to the local news network and release a press conference for our local patients and then in the mean time we will have the technical department start by adding a warning label on our website with links to our Facebook and Twitter page. Additionally, we will need to download and post the video of our marketing director so the patients can have a form of connection to us. This will allow us to connect with the local public and employees, but also allow us to reach nationwide patients. Furthermore, we need to send our employees a memo reminding them that they cannot talk to the press or make any statements to the media regarding this issue. Also, that they cannot release any confidential information otherwise they will be terminated under the HIPAA guidelines for breaching confidentiality policy. This will include any posts on social media sites. All forms of media can have their advantages and disadvantages, in the end it all depends on what a company is using the media form for. If an organization is just trying to connect with a local market using traditional media might be what they would want to use. If a company is trying to contact a broader territory they might want to use electronic or social media. Both methods at times have to be used especially when an organization is trying to convey an important urgent message such as a drug recall. Not only did our company need to keep an emotional connection with our local patients but also we needed to make sure to contact all the facilities that prescribe or dispense recalled medication. The decision I made as Communication Coordinator is to use both sets of media to contact our patients and inform them of the drug recall. This was a decision I made to make sure we covered all of our bases so no one could say we did not try. References Advantages and disadvantages of written communication. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. managementstudyguide. com/written-communication. htm American Hospital Association: HIPAA. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. aha. org/advocay-issues/hipaa Comparison of traditional media with electronic media. (n. d). Retrieved from http://download. nos. org Levin, G. (2012, January 2). Study predicts growing use of social media in healthcare. Retrieved from http://healthworkscollective. com How to cite Health Care Communication Methods, Essay examples Health Care Communication Methods Free Essays Health Care Communication Methods 1 Health Care Communication Methods Edilia Ramos HCS/320 August 27, 2012 Kim Foster Health Care Communication Methods 2 A communications coordinator is known as a marketing professional that coordinates organizations both internally and externally. This type of occupation is a key role in an organizations reputation with the employees and within the general public. Communications coordinator may work directly for an organization or for an agency that may specialize in public relations or marketing. We will write a custom essay sample on Health Care Communication Methods or any similar topic only for you Order Now Health Care Communication Methods 3 There are advantages and disadvantages of using traditional, electronic, and social media for health care communication. Social media these days can raise awareness, and increase knowledge of an issue. Traditional communication and social media may not be able to meet all of the communication goals that are being addressed, or be able to target all of the audience’s needs that are being requested. Due to the recent outbreak of negative side effects that have been reported to the national drug manufacturer there are several ways that I will reach out to the media in reference to the situation at hand. There are traditional, electronic, and social media forms of communication all at each will be provided the proper information as to what has been done to correct the problem that has been brought forward. The modern mass of communication would include the newspaper, radio, television, and telephones which would be the first to be told of the situation and what is going to be done to fix the reports of the negative side effects that have been reported. Traditional communication has come a long way from story-telling, myths, and carvings on monuments to the middle ages in which came the radio, and then onto the internet. Due to the severity of this situation and the importance that needs to be sent out in a timely manner, I am first going to call the television reporting stations within the local areas first seeing that everyone watches their tv’s and that would be the fastest way to get this information out to the public next to the newspaper company, and radio stations that would follow. Health Care Communication Methods 4 The information that was provided to the national drug manufacturer and the effects that have been brought forward are very important to us and the reputation of the company along with the health of the many American’s that take this product. The advantages of traditional, electronic, and social media have enabled us in so many new methods of communicating all in one in which technology has integrated mobile phones with internet, television, email, and text messaging all in one. These are some of the advantages that have derived from the advanced technology in communication, and are of the easiest forms of communication that is able to be seen and viewed by many people all over the world. Electronic communication is also one of the easiest ways to communicate because it lets you combine numerous media text, graphics, sound, and video all into one message. With the internet you are given the ability to transmit and receive large messages of information to and from individuals along with workgroups quickly and in a timely manner. Social media has become world- wide within today’s society and is the most commonly used websites that people are using frequently today and they include twitter, google, myspace, and the infamous facebook that is being used by people of all ages. This new era brings pros and opportunities seeing that in the past you had numbers of or contacts of how people generally got ahold of you, and today with the large part of social media here are many different levels of communication each with a specific purpose. Only you are able to limit the people that know and have your information Health Care Communication Methods 5 and can see what you post on any profile. Therefore social media has made it easy for the national drug manufacturer to be able to become a social media website and post and information that is needed and wanted by its viewers. In this case this type of communication has many pros in the way it can send out information to people all over, targets a wide audience, effective recruitment tool, facilitates open communication, and you are able to deliver communication to the specific person it is intended for. The disadvantages of electronic, and social media is that it increases the risk online scams that seem real, possibility of hackers committing fraud , and negative comments that can be seen about the company in which they may not be true. It has become more popular to receive a telephone call, or a text message verifying an appointment or a prescription pickup and if a person has changed their telephone number or even their email address someone else is going to receive that information that belongs to another person and that could contain some personal information in which the HIPAA regulation comes into effect. HIPAA also known as the health insurance portability and accountability act went into effect April of 2003 in which the purpose is to protect the patient’s privacy pertaining to their individual health information. HIPAA gives the patient the right to obtain copies of their medical records so that they are able to go over the information on it and correct any errors that they may find. â€Å"All healthcare providers are required to comply with the HIPAA privacy rule. The basic requirement of this rule is that a covered entity may only Health Care Communication Methods 6 use or disclose an individual’s protected health information for treatment, payment, or health care operations or other noted exception’s as permitted or required by the rule. †(www. courseslearningsomething. com/script2) â€Å"HIPAA imposes the following limits on the situations in which employer group health plans may have preexisting condition exclusions and the length of time that such exclusions apply†(HIPAA and other laws, chapter 10, pg. 2) A list of pros and cons have been listed and described in the areas of communication related to traditional, electronic, and social media. In any event the privacy of the patient or individuals that may be involved will be kept according to the HIPAA law that prevents such information being given out. Health Care Communication Methods 7 REFERENCES HIPAA and other laws, chapter 10, pg. 12 www. courseslearningsomething. com/script2 How to cite Health Care Communication Methods, Papers