Providers Rely Heavily On Old Communication
By Katie Wike, contributing writer
A survey from communication provider Perfect Serve found healthcare providers are stuck in the past when it comes to communication technologies.
Perfect Serve, along with Harris Poll, surveyed nearly 1,000 healthcare providers and found that, when it comes to advances in communication, healthcare still relies heavily on older technologies. According to the results, 60 percent of providers rated their communication as “efficient,” although more than half (52 percent) reported not knowing the correct care team member that they should contact in a particular situation.
Another 71 percent reported they have wasted time trying to communicate with the broader care team. Almost half report other members of the medical team are contacting them when they're not caring for the patient in question.
“I’m not surprised that the medical community finds communicating challenging,” said Dr. Jennifer DeBruler, medical director of Advocate Health Care’s Contact Center in an article for US News and World Report. “It’s hard to communicate when you cross out of your own health system.”
Most providers, 83 percent, reported using the telephone to communicate with patients. Seventy-four percent used online patient portals. iHealth Beat reports other key results of the survey showed remote technologies are not nearly as popular:
- 39 percent of respondents using telemedicine
- 36 percent using remote coordination tools
- 36 percent using video conferencing
- 32 percent using remote monitoring tools
- 32 percent using mobile care team tools
- 31 percent using remote consults
Nearly 30 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with the communication technology used by their organization. DeBruler says part of getting better use from technology is getting all providers as well as patients on board. “We have a generation of people who don't have computers or haven't embraced the technology,” she says.