HIPAA compliant solutions like Paubox Text Messaging, address the communication challenges faced by healthcare. Through its easy use amongst often burnt-out healthcare workers, its integration when done right provides a quick yet secure method of sharing patients' information.
The communication challenge in healthcare
The U.S. healthcare system faces a communication crisis rooted in issues stemming from poor coordination, fragmented information, and a lack of transparency between providers, patients, and institutions. One major problem is the gap in communications across different healthcare settings. When a patient moves from one specialist to another or from hospital to home care, information is often lost or miscommunicated.
The gap is widened by the disconnect between providers and patients created by the large volume of patients providers face and the time available to treat each patient. An excerpt from the Psychological Issues in Palliative Care provides, “Patients cope better with their predicament if they perceive they are given adequate information.” With limited time resources, providers often need to get through the diagnosis and treatment process for patients quickly. This leaves little time for clarification and consideration of multiple means of informing and educating patients.
When providers are overwhelmed, patient communication suffers from impersonal, unempathetic correspondence, and comprehensive care is left on the back burner.
Related: Using email to bridge language and cultural barriers in healthcare
The factors contributing to barriers in healthcare communication
Health insurance complexity
Navigating health insurance coverage and billing processes can confuse both patients and providers. The host of steps necessary for medical diagnoses and treatment to remain covered under a patient's insurance often leads to frustrations that delay care. When these issues are made exponentially by issues like Medicare and Medicaid claims and errors in billing from the provider, a recipe for distrust is created that can erode communications.
Provider hierarchies and power dynamics
In hospitals and other clinical settings, hierarchical structures can cause problems in communication. Nurses, physician assistants, and other lower ranking staff may hesitate to voice concerns or provide input to senior physicians. Natural and inherent power imbalances create a suppression of internal communication beneficial to teamwork, leading to errors.
Disparities in mental health communication
Mental health care often involves communication barriers unique to the patient provider relationship. The stigma surrounding mental illness can make patients reluctant to share their symptoms fully. Conditions like anxiety, depression, or psychosis also affect a patient's ability to communicate clearly, making it harder for providers to gauge the severity of their condition. This coupled with a lack of provider training can lead to challenges related to emotional and psychological discussions.
Burnout and compassion fatigue in providers
Healthcare professionals experiencing burnout or compassion fatigue can struggle with effective communication. Emotional drain or detachment in providers is common and leads to less empathetic interactions with patients. This can cause patients to feel neglected and information related to medical conditions to not be shared clearly.
Why HIPAA compliant text messaging offers a secure solution
Traditional communication methods like phone calls or unencrypted emails stand to lead to delays in the timely sharing of information. It is for this reason that reliable means like HIPAA compliant email and HIPAA compliant text messaging serve as cornerstones for any healthcare organization's communication strategy.
While email is ideal for the distribution of more detailed or sensitive forms of information, text messaging can provide a method of sharing brief or urgent updates. HIPAA compliant text messaging also offers a secure method of maintaining compliance that tracks and logs all communications creating a verifiable audit trail.
FAQs
Is consent necessary to email patients?
Consent is a best practice before emailing patients.
What is the role of the HIEs in healthcare communication?
Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) facilitate the secure sharing of health information between different healthcare providers.
What is impersonalization in communication?
When communication lacks personalization making it feel detached or generic.
Kirsten Peremore
