5 recommendations for improving clinical communication

Real-time, contextual communication improves patient outcomes, care team collaboration and the clinician experience.

For all these reasons — the impact on patient care, care collaboration and clinician experience — effective clinical communication is key to the success of healthcare organizations (HCOs). 1. Do not use the EHR for clinical communication. However, O’Connor said, it is a mistake to rely on the EHR for clinical communication. “The most successful deployments of clinical communication technology replicate the consumer communication experience,” said O’Connor. “That is something that an EHR does not do.” However, a well-designed clinical communication system not only replicates the consumer communication experience in ease of use, but it also adds value with features that support privacy, security and care collaboration. “When an organization decides which clinical communication system they will use, they need to implement it across the organization and make its use mandatory for everyone,” he said. “Installing a clinical communication system that ensures the right information goes to the right people in real time has a profoundly positive impact on the caregiver experience and goes a long way toward helping with stress and burnout.”