Communication Can Save Lives

One of the key success factors of many successful businesses are driven by strong communication between team leaders and its members. An effective internal communication can increase efficiency and productivity in the workplace, as proven by companies such as IN-and-OUT Burger, OMNI Systems and many others (source). It’s no surprise that many successful companies enforce communication in their operations.

What may not be clear to many of us, is the lack of communication between clinicians in the healthcare industry. The industry which covers the services of prevention up to cure relies on the communication between doctors, physicians and nurses – often in the cause of saving lives. The complexity of patient care stems from the unpredictable nature of the variety of patients and cases with clinicians being assigned to providing different clinical help.

According to a study conducted by CRICO Strategies, it is estimated that 30% of malpractice cases from 2009 to 2013 are due to failures in communication between clinicians. In one specific case, a nurse failed to inform a surgeon that a patient recovering from an operation who is experiencing abdominal pain accompanied with a drop in the level of red blood cells  – a sign that should not be missed as possible internal bleeding. Unfortunately, the patient died of haemorrhage not long after (source).

In recent studies in the United States, if clinicians communicated better hospitals, could have avoided nearly 2,000 patient deaths – and $1.7 billion in costs  contributed by malpractices (source). So the question that everyone should ask is – what causes communication failures between clinicians in healthcare? Healthcare industry operates under a very hierarchical structure, with different ‘chains’ of command determined by level of authority. Indeed, there are even more polarised when it comes to the different professions in the healthcare industry – say physicians, doctors and nurses which communicates within its own lexicon and jargons. Communication therefore seems to be more opaque thus undermining the clarity and transparency of the services ought to be delivered (source). However, according to BMJ, a study shows, when a power dynamic is weeded out for example, communication and interaction between clinicians are drastically improved.

The different levels of education and training amongst clinicians are usually resulted from the variations of communication styles and methods which eventually will complicate the scenario and render ineffective communications (source). The medical education is very complex, and oftentimes its educational curriculum primarily focuses on the professional’s technical skills and frequently neglects the importance of teamwork (source).

The most prevalent occasion when communication failures occur in patient care is during hand-offs – when one care provider is passing a patient to another provider. These process can take place between two nurses, doctors or with each other. In many cases, a lot of information gets lost or misinterpreted (source). Additionally, this matter can also occur between hospitals. Patients who are transferred to another hospital are at risk to become a victim of a malpractice due to clinicians poor communication skills. Hospitals are notoriously competitive with one another and inhibited to communicate with each other. According to Accenture, U.S hospitals waste roughly $12 billion a year from the result of poor communication.

Innocent lives should not be victims of medical malpractices anymore. The state of communication in the healthcare industry needs to improve intensely. Clinicians require permissible, secured, protected and trusted messaging service which can adequately support their full needs in a highly user-friendly environment. That’s when we came across MedPlanner, a messaging app that facilitates collaboration between multiple clinicians who are accommodating to complex data and image sharing of patients in a manner that is completely secure and private.

After a proof of concept with two medical organisations in the UK, MedPlanner is now ready to be launched in Malaysia, with targeted subscribers of 24,896 over 5 countries, Malaysia, UK, Indonesia and Singapore. With MedPlanner’s extensive network in these countries, there’s a strong case for a complete collaborative communication ecosystem around the healthcare industry by integrating doctors with hospitals, pharmacies and other key players in the industry so there need not be worries if you will get the right treatment the next time you are diagnosed.

MedPlanner has launched their Equity Crowdfunding Campaign on Ata Plus’ platform, check them out!

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Amirah Shafii

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