Communication challenges are a big issue in nursing. Trying to share important information with your entire nursing staff in a timely fashion is often difficult. We are going to present some ways to make your nursing communication more effective and also improve the patient experience. We know your nursing staff is short on time, so the process should be automated as much as possible.
Communicate Important Patient Safety Information
If you enact a new policy or if you have a patient-related issue in your hospital, it is important that you inform all your nurses about it right away. Of course your nurses will address the issue and provide updates when they give their daily reports. If you want to provide more information, however, send out an email to all nurses.
It is simple to create an automated email using a selection of pre-made templates. All you have to do is insert the content. Emails are great because you can include images and links if needed. Link to useful diagrams, online articles and educational resources, video explanations and so on.
Providing an informative email gives your nurses a simple way to learn more about current patient issues. It ensures that all your nurses get the message and have the most information possible.
Efficiently Passing Information from One Shift Team to the Next
One of the biggest nursing communication challenges is ensuring that critical information is passed from the shift team leaving to the shift team arriving. Even after hearing the general report from the previous nurses, it can take up to a couple hours to get all the relevant patient information.
Have your nurses enter essential information into an automated email and send it to the next round of nurses on duty. This way, the information is neatly recorded and nurses can check their email to confirm and elaborate on the information delivered in the report.
Learn More About Your Patient Experience
What is the best way to improve your patient experience? Ask your patients directly. An online survey is a simple and effective way to learn what patients actually think. Surveys also help to identify common patient needs and requests.
Whenever you have a new patient in, ask if they are interested in participating in a quick online survey to help improve your hospital. Not every patient will agree to take the survey, but some will. Ask questions about the nursing experience, the hospital itself, the cafeteria, the wait time and the overall experience.
Patients' survey responses will alert you to nursing issues and hospital improvements you may not have been aware of. Address the most common and most severe issues in order to improve the quality of your patient care based on real feedback.
Recruit Nurses for Shifts Quickly
Being able to contact nurses instantly in a variety of ways makes it easier and more efficient to call in nurses when you need to fill a shift. Keep a list of all your nurses and their contact information. If someone calls in sick at the last minute, click the send button and the message will go out to all nurses on the list. Whichever nurse responds first to confirm that they are available gets the shift.
With an all-in-one nursing communication solution, you can automatically contact your nurses through voicemail, email and even text message. Being able to contact nurses in the way that is most convenient for them ensures that they will be most likely to receive the messages. Text messages, unlike other forms of messages, are likely to be opened within five minutes of being sent.
Keep Patients in the Know
Encourage your patients to sign up for a monthly hospital newsletter. This builds loyalty with your hospital and keeps patients in the know. Feature one nurse per newsletter: provide a bio, share his or her favorite patient story and describe why he or she got into nursing. This creates a personal connection between your patients and your nursing staff.
Your newsletter is easily automated. Just use a pre-created template and insert this month's content. Schedule the newsletter to go out to a specified list of patients. After the send, you can see detailed reports of the campaign to view your open rates, unsubscribes, which campaign performed the best and so on.
Before sending a single newsletter, make sure every contact has subscribed to receive emails from you. If not, you may face complaints and even fines. A simple signup form on your hospital website and social media pages is the best way to gain opt-in subscribers.
Provide Instant Answers to Patients
Often patients will call in to the hospital before visiting to see if their condition is serious enough to come in. This is often necessary, but it can take up a lot of time and will cause long wait times on the phone. This is where live online chat comes in. By visiting the hospital website, patients can ask questions of the nurse on duty to see if they should come in.
Some marketing automation solutions include a live chat function. Our solution, SimplyCast 360, includes EngagerLive. This is a free online chat tool that anyone can implement on their website by adding a single line of code.
Try Automated Nursing Communication for Free
Communication in nursing doesn't have to be challenging and inefficient. Adding automation makes the process easier and more effective. Sign up for a 14 day free trial of our automated nursing communication solution. Our team loves to give demos to show you what you can do with automated communication.
