How to choose clinical communication tools - HealthManagement.org

Communication plays a big role in human interaction. In healthcare, effective communication between care providers, and with their patients, is a must. This is because poor communication can adversely impact patient care or even cause medical errors.

The advent of multi-use smartphones and mobile devices, including mobile apps and portals, has afforded doctors and medical staff an easy and fast way to communicate with each other and to connect with patients. For healthcare organisations, it is important to choose the right communication tool and optimise its use for improved patient care.

You might also like: Tiered FDA medical device security guidance concerns industry

Three experts offer these best practice advice and knowledgeable tips for healthcare CIOs tasked with implementing communications technology. These recommendations are also useful for those organisations with communications technology already up and running.

Assessing your facility’s clinical needs

You are not buying a clinical communication tool simply because this is what many other organisations are using. What you need is a technology that meets your facility’s unique needs. To help you with a comprehensive assessment of these needs, get the input and buy-in of the entire organisation, especially those on the front lines, says Paul Coyne, RN, senior director, clinical informatics and advanced practice nursing at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.