January 10, 2025 | By Shirmattie Seenarine
TL;DR: Imagine a healthcare system where every decision is faster, every patient feels seen, and every provider works seamlessly together. This vision is becoming a reality thanks to innovative communication tools in healthcare. In this blog, discover how
The future of healthcare communication is here. Don’t miss how it’s making a difference every day.
A unified communications solution can connect all types of communication tools in healthcare, including voice, video, email, push-to-talk, and messaging, on a single integrated platform, providing options and flexibility for healthcare institutions. Companies like Deltapath provide Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), allowing seamless communication and collaboration among companies, teams, and departments.
One of the essential tools of unified communications is video conferencing. Healthcare providers can host virtual team meetings, check with specialists, and even conduct patient follow-ups without being physically present. For instance, multidisciplinary teams can video-call and discuss complex cases involving each medical expert in the care plan. A video call brings healthcare workers together quickly regardless of location, accelerating decision-making and enhancing care coordination and patient outcomes.
Telehealth platforms for healthcare communication, such as Teladoc Health and Deltapath Telehealth, have transformed how patients access care, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These applications allow healthcare providers to assess a patient’s condition visually and verbally, helping them decide on a course of treatment while providing convenience and access to patients in remote and underserved areas. Telehealth platforms also ease the burden of in-office visits that usually take up resources by allowing providers to consult virtually on less urgent conditions.
While one benefit was the reduction in patient no-show rates experienced by telehealth-enabled facilities like Sparta Community Hospital, the most significant benefit was a 50% reduction in the burden on clinical staff. Overall, healthcare communication tools like telehealth platforms expand access to care by breaking down barriers and offering continuity of care that improves patient outcomes while optimizing provider efficiency. In addition, for nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, telehealth helps connect residents with healthcare personnel without needing transportation. Similarly, telehealth platforms in behavioral health centers empower mental health professionals to communicate with clients in secure and accessible ways, enhancing continuity of care.
Telehealth also benefits from uniting with other communication tools, such as Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, secure messaging, and video conferencing. This unified experience ensures a consistent and integrated workflow that streamlines care delivery. Telehealth platforms exemplify how communication tools used in healthcare can catalyze care instead of simply transforming access approaches by improving services.
Tools for patient engagement, such as MyChart, empower patients to take active roles in their healthcare. Patient portals provide a centralized platform for making appointments, reviewing test results, reviewing notes from a visit, and establishing direct communication with providers.
Automated reminders for treatments and follow-ups further help people stay committed to treatment, while self-service capability significantly enhances overall satisfaction. Many studies have shown that patient portals improve medication adherence and foster enhanced relationships between patients and providers. Such tools for effective communication in healthcare also allow rural clinics and mobile health services to maintain continuity of care. Overall, patient portals create an inclusive, engaging, patient-focused approach.
Healthcare apps, supported on platforms like iOS and Android, are transforming the healthcare landscape into technology-advanced facilities. The healthcare apps seamlessly integrate with critical systems like nurse call systems, EHR, and collaboration platforms. These apps give healthcare professionals real-time access to vital patient information, allowing them to make informed decisions from anywhere. Take the Deltapath Acute app, for instance, which enables healthcare facilities to transfer many key activities that previously occurred at a nurse call station to an app on a mobile device. When patients push a nurse call button at their bedside, the app notifies a group of healthcare personnel immediately, providing information about a patient’s request and other patient data such as their room number and critical patient information. With apps like Deltapath Acute, healthcare personnel can initiate audio or video conversations with patients to assess urgency, get clarification, and provide comfort.
Healthcare communications using apps are making a significant positive impact. Not only do apps result in more agile operations and improved informed care, but they can also elevate the patient experience. When patients feel they can communicate with their caregivers easily and receive timely care, they are more satisfied, directly impacting the reputation and brand of healthcare facilities.
Hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and outpatient surgery centers are just a few examples of where such tools are indispensable. By connecting with these mobile apps, a healthcare facility can elevate healthcare communication to a new level of responsiveness and precision.
Electronic Health Record systems like Epic are indispensable to modern-day health facilities. When integrated with a mobile app or other communication tools, these systems achieve new heights of efficiency and precision. Providers have near-instantaneous access to comprehensive patient records encompassing all data, such as treatment history, laboratory tests, and imaging, to make critical decisions swiftly.
Studies show that EHR systems can reduce medication errors by 50%. EHR integration with tools for effective communication in healthcare is likely to improve this number as integration will enhance data-driven decision-making, which will enhance patient outcomes. The integration can also keep healthcare facilities like hospitals, primary care clinics, specialty clinics, and home health services focused on personalized and proactive care by ensuring that critical information is readily available and accurately conveyed.
Push-to-talk (PTT) devices allow instant voice communication, making them necessary for emergencies and healthcare facilities. Built for high-stress environments and situations requiring prompt intervention, PTT devices ensure communication during the most challenging situations. Take, for example, high-acuity patients. These patients suffer from severe conditions that often require immediate medical attention. Hospitals that cannot quickly assign these patients to a bed quickly can result in detrimental outcomes. PTT was implemented and used by one hospital’s environmental service team and triage nurses. As a result, high-acuity patients’ wait time for an inpatient bed was reduced by 45%. Push-to-talk is on the path to becoming an essential tool for communication in healthcare, especially in scenarios where every second matters. Integrating with other medical tools like EMS will also improve care coordination during critical incidents.
Smooth, secure messaging systems allow teams in healthcare facilities to share critical patient information quickly. These tools guarantee patient confidentiality and data security. Replacing old communication tools used in healthcare, like pagers, removes delays and enables easier communication and collaboration for rapid decision-making during critical situations.
Studies show that secure messaging systems can reduce patient discharge times by almost an hour by improving response times. Enhanced collaboration among multidisciplinary teams streamlines discharge procedures. When a physician creates a discharge order, the nurse, pharmacist, and clinical staff can all be immediately notified, thereby accelerating patient turnover.
Healthcare communication tools like secure messaging benefit many settings, including hospitals, outpatient clinics, and nursing homes. Secure messaging ensures everyone, including nurses, doctors, and pharmacists, is on board when coordinating patient care or handling prescriptions. Creating standardized communication tools in healthcare, like secure messaging, promises to provide a foundation for dependable, real-time coordination, which is vital in healthcare across many positions.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a partner in quality healthcare in hospitals and other facilities like ambulatory settings. Artificial intelligence tools like Nuance’s Dragon Medical One are revolutionizing daily operations by automating time-intensive tasks. These AI-driven solutions improve the accuracy and speed of clinical documentation through voice-to-text technology, allowing providers to focus more on patient interaction. AI tools can also aid clinical decision-making. Making such applications available to providers is a step towards focusing on patient interactions and a higher level of care.
AI tools optimize workflows, help reduce the risk of human error in everyday tasks, and can free up to 90 minutes daily of a provider’s time. These communications tools usher in the value and opportunity that automation offers for better, safer patient care delivery.
Adeptly utilizing data resources transforms communication in healthcare, operations, and patient care. Advanced programs, such as Tableau and Power BI, provide healthcare facilities with performance evaluations necessary for improvement and change.
An example would be predictive analysis and machine learning models, which help hospitals forecast peak patient volumes and adjust resources accordingly, potentially reducing wait times. Outside of this scenario, patient feedback platforms such as Press Ganey and NRC Health pursue improvements by summarizing positive or negative influences on patient satisfaction metrics- clearing up miscommunication and minimizing wait times allows facilities to improve their standards of care and encourage greater loyalty among their patients. In addition, other more generalized survey platforms like Formbricks are also available to positively influence patient care and improve healthcare services.
Lastly, integrating analytics with EHR systems allows providers to monitor outcomes and adjust their treatments based on the most recent evidence-a proactive approach to care. This embraces data-driven methodologies that ensure hospitals’ operational efficiency and patient satisfaction. These tools highlight the transformative role of communication in healthcare in fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Introducing advanced and integrated communication tools into healthcare is an intentional and strategic choice. These tools drive operational excellence and, most importantly, save lives.
Healthcare executives should not waste any time championing these life-changing technologies. The return on investment in improved outcomes, happy patients, and streamlined workflows is impossible to deny. The time is now to shape the future of healthcare through tools that remarkably make a difference.
These technologies enhance operational management, decrease costs, and save lives. By utilizing AI-driven systems and analytics-driven platforms, businesses can stay ahead in competitive patient care while delivering exceptional services. Contact Deltapath with your questions and start implementing communication tools to improve healthcare communications in your facility today.
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