Improved Care and Outcomes: The Cascading Impacts of Unified Communications in Healthcare

In healthcare and elder care, effective communication goes beyond good bedside manners. Whether it’s a timely alert to prevent medication errors or a collaborative treatment plan created by multiple doctors, strong communication plays a vital role in patient and resident outcomes.

Miscommunication in healthcare can lead to a series of negative (and costly) impacts for patients and providers alike. Inadequate handovers, such as wrong-procedures, treatment delays, or medication errors, factor into 80% of adverse events and are often caused by lapses in communication.

Proper communication is critical not only for continuity of care but also for giving providers the critical data they need – so patients and medical professionals alike can have peace of mind knowing they’re making informed treatment decisions at every step of the process.

Healthcare communication is complex, especially when it comes to elder, at-home, residential, or remote care. The right unified communications and collaboration (UCC) solution enables healthcare organizations to optimize their communications. The benefits cascade throughout the chain of care and dramatically improve patient and resident outcomes, employee experiences, and operational efficiency.

Diagnosing Healthcare Communication Complexity

Healthcare is often framed as a relationship between the patient and their provider, but the reality is far more complex. There are often many more parties concerned: nurses, family members, private caregivers, clinical staff, and insurance providers are just a few of the roles involved in patient and resident care.

Everyone involved in a healthcare treatment plan must be able to coordinate seamlessly, taking different backgrounds, locations, and communication preferences into account. Hospitals, clinics, residential care facilities, patient homes, and remote settings all require reliable and secure channels for information exchange.

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), such as remote monitors, at-home medical devices, and smart medication dispensers, provides real-time updates and introduces a new era of healthcare. However, the massive amounts of data they generate and the need for secure, reliable connectivity adds another layer of complexity to the healthcare communications puzzle.

The Cascading Impacts of Miscommunication

In a healthcare or elder care setting, even seemingly minor communication breakdowns can have serious consequences. A missed call or misplaced chart can snowball, leading to delayed treatments, misdiagnoses, or medical errors.

Miscommunication also escalates frontline worker burnout. Healthcare professionals already operate in high-stress environments, and the added burden of poor communication can lead to increased stress, exhaustion, and job dissatisfaction. High turnover rates among healthcare staff disrupt continuity of care for patients and residents, with a negative effect on healthcare outcomes.

This is true for patients and non-professional caregivers, such as family members caring for elderly relatives, who are often overwhelmed by navigating the complexities of the healthcare system while trying to manage their own lives. Long call wait times and lost messages add to the mental load of medical treatments, causing patients to be less engaged with their own wellbeing.

The Transformative Impact of Effective Communication

On the other hand, clear and timely healthcare communication has a profoundly positive impact on patient outcomes and employee satisfaction. When patients are engaged and informed, they’re more likely to adhere to treatment plans and be satisfied with their care. Caregivers also need to be included in conversations, since they play an important role in patients’ and residents’ day-to-day treatment.

Effective communication among providers also reduces errors and improves compliance through streamlined workflows, optimized schedules, and more effective handoffs. More importantly, empowering healthcare professionals with robust UCC tools allows them to cooperate, coordinate, and communicate more effectively, alleviating burnout, increasing job satisfaction, and boosting productivity.

Enhancing Healthcare Communications with UCC Technology

Healthier communication is the key to better patient and provider experiences. UCC technology offers tools specifically designed to address the complex challenges inherent in healthcare. These solutions transform how information flows between the different people involved in patient care, ensuring every piece of critical data is communicated accurately, efficiently, and securely.

By integrating advanced UCC and voice solutions into their practices, healthcare organizations can bridge gaps, reduce the potential for errors, and create a more cohesive and responsive care environment where all parties – doctors, nurses, caregivers, insurance providers, and patients – are connected, regardless of their physical location.

The right UCC platform includes features to address the unique communication challenges in healthcare, such as:

• Deep integrations to existing systems: Lower response times with integrations to emergency response, nurse call, and physical security and surveillance systems to ensure staff are immediately informed when seconds matter. This communication is critical to the core interconnected collaboration framework that exists within healthcare and elder care residential organizations.
• AI-assisted contact center technology: Improve patient service with AI-powered customer support on their preferred channel (phone, email, SMS text, chat, or social media). AI saves patients time and frustration by answering basic questions, keeping conversation records, and transferring communications to the correct healthcare professionals as needed.
• Hardware designed for healthcare: Hospitals, clinics, residential facilities, and home settings all require equipment that meets exacting sanitation and security standards. Easy-to-use handsets made from antimicrobial plastics minimize contagion while protecting communications with secure signaling, voice encryption, user authentication, and more.
• Remote care collaboration: Connect healthcare providers, patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders with end-to-end interactive digital experiences. Secure video calling, consultation, and document management means access to high-quality healthcare is unrestricted by location. Providing patients or residents with an easy way to contact loved ones and caregivers makes their experience less lonely, while keeping family members involved in their care.
• Flexible deployment solutions: Secure UCC solutions integrate with critical applications and empower providers to focus on patients, not processes. Hybrid and cloud communications environments provide scalable, omnichannel, and cost-effective solutions that adapt to every healthcare strategy while remaining compliant with privacy and security standards.

Connecting the Communication Dots: Elder Care

Elder care is a prime example of how effective communication can transform healthcare outcomes. Whether patients live at home or in an elder care facility, relatives often serve as intermediaries between their elder family member and their medical team.

Unfortunately, family caregivers rated their relatives’ direct care professionals 5.8 out of 12 for communication availability. Any UCC system must make it simple for caregivers to connect with medical professionals to ensure everyone is in the loop when it comes to managing care.

UCC tools can help bridge the gaps between patients, caregivers, and providers in different locations. For example, a family member might notice a change in a patient’s condition during a phone call. Even if they live far away, they can join a video consultation with the relative and their local medical team to explain the situation, develop a treatment plan, and advocate for their care.

Using UCC to streamline elder care communications leads to more informed, engaged patients. Family caregivers feel better supported, clinical staff are better informed, and patients receive higher levels of care.

Improving the Healthcare Environment with UCC

In today’s healthcare landscape, optimized communication isn’t just about leveraging technology - it’s about fostering a culture of collaboration, empathy, and patient-centered care. Healthcare organizations that prioritize communication as a strategic imperative will see positive cascading impacts on their operations.

Investing in UCC solutions to drive positive change for all stakeholders improves patient and resident outcomes, enhances staff well-being, and boosts operational efficiency – ultimately making healthcare safer and more effective for everyone involved.

Contact us to learn more about how Mitel’s UCC solutions can transform your healthcare organization’s communications, from emergency response solutions, to elder care.