Communication Channels Within Organizations, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Communication is considered to be transmission between a sender and a receiver(s). It is essential in business as well as on personal levels. People would not be able to pass on their experience or get others perform certain actions if they were not able to pass their messages to one another, which is the essence of communication on the whole. This is why it is important to consider various means of communication existing to ensure the flow of information, be it either specific, professionally determined type thereof or the general, overview information.

Communication involves encoding –the process of translating an idea or thought into verbal written, or nonverbal symbols, like gestures. Messages are transmitted through various communication channels such as face to face meetings, e-mails, and online discussions, written letters or memos, telephone communication or voice mails. Information flows in organizations through both formal and informal channels of communication. Formal communication follows the chain of command established by an organization’s hierarchy from one level to another and is usually recognized as the authoritative process. Informal communication channels are open communication in an organization and ensure the right people are in contact with such informal channels as a network or a grapevine.

Information may be transmitted by verbal means, which would include face to face or telephone communication. Surely, such type of communication is highly beneficial because much more symbols and codes will be transmitted, and at a higher speed, which will ensure the fulfillment of the needed action. Non-verbal sources of communication, or written ones are evident in various forms such as manuals or handbooks, memo’s, letters, email – they may be even more informative than verbal messages because they are easier to refer to repeatedly. However, they are more specific in usage and at times may be more specific in understanding.

Communication Devices in a Hospital

A medical establishment is an institution in which the successful and efficient flow of information has to be put to the fore in the established communication methodologies, since the price of inefficient communication of certain messages may be at times too high. The medical staff, clinicians and administration have to be able to exchange information promptly and accurately; it is for this reason that there have been created so many communication devices that serve different goals and can be utilized in a different way. The types that are used within a hospital setting will be discussed in the coming paragraphs.

Firstly, it is an On-Call Pager. It may be used to get Doctors or Senior nurses to specific urgent appointments. It represents a simple device that beeps the caller with a message and contact number (Phoenix Childrens Hospital, 2009). Though it is a simple and primitive device, it may be or essential help and importance at times when the doctors, nurses or other members of the medical staff have to be called to certain places or have to be given an urgent task. It is highly helpful at the moments when the employees of the hospital are not at their working places, and their help is badly needed.

E-Mail can be used for internal and external communications; however, particular attention has to be paid to the issues of patient confidentiality. Improvements can be made with levels of encryption and not allowing the use of portable USB drives for transferring data. These changes can bring about a much wider and more successful application of e-mail communication.

Fax is a useful means for external and internal communications where a paper transcription is required. Actual fax machines can now be replaced by using software that integrates fax, voice messages and e-mail into a single unified system. Application of such complex machines for data transfer will surely improve the efficiency and constructiveness of communication.

Newsletters / Bulletins may be used to disseminate information to other Departments within the hospital and externally. Internal ones tend to be more informative on medical practices, whereas external newsletters focus on health related matters and patient well being. It is also important to mention Cell Phones in this section – they have been adopted as a standard technology for Doctors and Nurses.

Pipeline: Verbal communications may have to adhere to the hospital rules and regulations and as such go through various protocols and channels. This is an important regulation that has to be seriously taken into account when establishing the communication network at any hospital or another medical institution.

“A communication system can be bounded by formal procedure rather than technology, e.g. clinical handover. A hospital may have many different policies that shape their communication system performance, independent of the specific technologies used. For example, it might be a policy to prohibit general practitioners to obtain a medical record directly from the records department without the permission of a hospital clinician” (Coiera, 2006).

The Influence of Business Processes on Information Dissemination

In such practices the modernity or speed of technology cannot supersede the hospital regulations. There is a need to examine business process and workflows to avoid data redundancy and streamline duplicity in the system. Here one can consider the following powerful communication tools:
– Notice Boards (used for staff notices but also for general information to the public);
– Team Briefs (for doctors and nursing staff to update on patient care and doctors rounds);
– Staff Meetings (held monthly for all staff to attend);
– Magazine (quarterly journal used for external media exposure and promotion of the hospital services and benefits).

My Personal Experience and Inventory of Information Dissemination Methodologies

I work in a week-end Baylor program. The communication process for the weekenders is as follows:

• Newsletters (used to send information within the hospitals. They are left in various places where they can be picked up by staff and consumers);
• Bulletins (used to pass information relating to in-services; also used to update staff on new employees, in-house job openings, changes in medical personnel; also used to communicate when doctors or their assistants will be unavailable and who will be covering for them);
• In-services (used to bring staff up to date on new technology or changes in policy);
• Faxes (used to communicate changes in medication to pharmacy. Also sent to physician if they request various information regarding their patients);
• Electronic (internal email allows nurses to maintain their CEU’s; also used to communicate various types of information such as enrollment periods for different things; companies with which the hospital has partnered offer various services that the employees may be interested in).

In my organization, Environmental Protection Agency, communications are transmitted in various ways which are as follows:

• Face to face communication. This means is represented by an individual meeting, group/team or staff meetings, community or public meetings and presentation during which the information is passed on or disseminated with the help of verbal means.
• Telephone communication. Teleconference meetings with other agencies, department or entities are included in the list of this means of information exchange. This effort is made to save travel costs to arrange distant meetings. One way communication also includes telephone messaging and voice mails.
• Written communication. Formal letters or memos, messages, photocopies, announcements and notices can be the examples of such information flow.
• Media application – this includes announcements, advertisements, notices of hearings, events, conferences and trainings
• Electronic /Computer communication – Internet e-mail, online discussion, online chat room, video conferencing, web portals and media for outreach activities are only some instances of such form of communication. It is also necessary to note that electronic, or digital communication, is gaining force in the modern period of time, so the issue of security is gaining force.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Existing Methodologies of Disseminating Health Information

The available electronic communication is a new technology which helps in networking with organization, and teamwork. It allows information to be distributed faster and makes the response time shorter. The potential disadvantage of electronic communication is associated with impersonal, human interaction with machines instead of one another. It also removes nonverbal communication from the situational aspects, which may otherwise add important context to interactions and emotions.

Workplace “privacy” also becomes an issue when electronic messaging is being conducted by people who are eavesdropping. Lack of attention to security measures, especially in such topics as human health and the secret of health records of citizens, may cause serious problems. Otherwise the establishment of such computer technologies requires separate attention to security measures that become the perspective of development in the discussed sphere. The communication barriers that I have encountered is that by only working at weekends you miss things that are geared to employees who work during the week. Sometimes the nonverbal communication is misunderstood.

References

Coiera, E. (2006, May 27). The Clinical Biochemist Review. Retrieved October 14, 2009, from Communication Systems in Healthcare: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go v/pmc/articles/PMC1579411/

Gross, L.S., (2006) Telecommunications: Radio, Television, and Movies in the Digital Age, 9e Chapter 5: The Internet, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Phoenix Childrens Hospital (2009). Retrieved October 14, 2009, from Media Relations Policy: http://www.phoenixchildrens.com/about/press-media/media-relations-policy/

Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J.G, & Osborn, R.N. (2003). Organizational Behavior, 8e, Chapter 13, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN: 047120367X.