Hospital-Physician Communication: Solutions to Four Scenarios

Communication between hospital administrators and physicians is critical. When both are on the same page, hospital operations hum along, patients are seen in a timely manner, and the staff is satisfied. But when hospital-physician communication is out of sync, there’s a trickle-down effect that negatively impacts patients, medical staff, and non-medical staff. These four scenarios, which could play out at any hospital, can be avoided with MDsyncNET.

1. An emergency department patient is waiting for a consultation with a pancreatic surgeon, but it’s the middle of the night and the surgeon can’t be located.

All too often, on-call physician contact information is obsolete. When the switchboard or nursing staff dials the wrong number, it means delays in patient treatment and boarding patients in the emergency department. MDsyncNET’s Phone Directories software leaves anachronistic paper phone books in the dust, replacing them with virtual directories that can be updated in real time and accessed by any authorized user from any internet-connected device.

2. The hospital’s Medical Services Professionals (MSPs) are subjected daily to an endless stream of calls and emails from physicians requesting a variety of reports, lists, and documents.

Constant interruptions make MSPs less efficient and productive. MDsyncNET’s Medical Staff Services software creates a secure central repository for a variety of files, including spreadsheets, word processing documents, PDFs, and PowerPoint presentations. There, MSPs can post everything from medical staff bylaws and residency documents to newsletters and department lists. The result? Physicians gain direct access to critical documents and MSPs can devote time to other tasks.

3. The hospital implements a new policy, but physicians feel as though their views weren’t taken into consideration.

When physicians feel unrepresented or underrepresented, it fuels dissatisfaction and burnout. Physician burnout is already a significant problem, but one which can be mitigated by healthy hospital-physician communication. MDsyncNET’s Forum software module enables threaded, secure group discussions, virtual polls, and push notifications. Hospital administration can gather feedback from physician stakeholders, can ask for votes on policies, and can encourage informal huddles. As a result, hospital-physician communication improves, as does physician satisfaction.

4. Trying to locate the on-call gastroenterologist, the switchboard operator calls the wrong medical group.

Calls made to the wrong physician or group tends to have a domino effect. The doctor who was mistakenly called is justifiably upset at being interrupted. The switchboard operator runs the risk of being reprimanded for making an error. In the meantime, there’s a delay in patient care. This is a common scenario when on-call schedules are compiled using paper-and-pen or spreadsheets because they’re often out-of-date shortly after they’re distributed. Different physicians might have different versions of the on-call schedule, or someone might have neglected to update the binder for the switchboard. MDsyncNET’s On-Call Scheduling software eliminates manual processes, ensuring that everyone has access to an accurate online schedule that’s updated in real time.

If you’re ready to improve your hospital-physician communication, it’s time to call MDsyncNET at 888-506-5061. We’ll help you get on track to seamless communication, increased physician satisfaction, and improved patient care.