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Public hospitals’ risk communication strategies during COVID-19: The case of Spain
Abstract
This exploratory study analyses studies pertaining to the risk communication strategies adopted by Spanish public hospitals to inform their stakeholders during the first COVID-19 wave, in order to better understand effective communication of ‘health messages’ during a pandemic. After reviewing 155 academic works, 12 articles that were published between January 2020 and September 2020 met full inclusion criteria. Implementing a thematic synthesis approach yielded five themes: (1) transparency of crisis; (2) hospital health leadership crisis; (3) crisis management communication; (4) crisis management strategy; and (5) crisis management stakeholders. Based on these identified themes, 10 evidence-based recommendations for hospital communication preparedness and implementation during health crises are offered.
Purpose
This study aims to explore the Facebook communication strategies of Spanish hospitals during health emergencies, focusing on their role in crisis management and public information dissemination.
Design/methodology/approach
Automatic topic modelling and deep learning sentiment analysis were applied to analyse 151,738 posts from 274 hospital Facebook pages (March 2020–Feb 2022). Regression analyses were used to explore the relationships between topics, sentiment scores and hospital characteristics.
Findings
The analysis revealed nine main topics, with the three most prevalent related to COVID-19: vaccine information, security measures and situational updates. This indicates that Spanish hospitals significantly relied on Facebook to manage the emergency. The communication strategies dynamically adapted to the intensity of the pandemic and varied across hospital types. Sentiment analysis showed a negative tone for posts about security measures and situational updates. These findings align with the Agenda-Setting Theory, suggesting that hospitals influenced public discourse. Vaccine information posts were more positive, resonating with the Uses and Gratifications Theory by fulfilling the audience’s need for reassurance and guidance.
Originality/value
Using replicable machine learning techniques, this study elucidates the communication strategies employed by Spanish hospitals to manage healthcare emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights factors that potentially influence these strategies and provides theoretical justifications for them. The variation in communication strategies on Facebook among different hospital categories underscores the imperative for stricter guidelines and regulations to guarantee consistent and reliable communication during emergencies. This research provides valuable insights for practitioners and policymakers aimed at developing effective health communication strategies on social media.
The immediacy of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the sheer importance of internal and external communication with stakeholders. Universities had to rapidly grasp an unfolding and fast-changing crisis, gauge their level of preparedness, review decision and implementation processes, devise strategies, and adapt communication approaches. This exploratory study conducts a literature review in order to identify relevant studies that address how higher education institutions communicated to their stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The review of the literature revealed that although many higher education institutions had disaster recovery plans in place, few were well-equipped for a disruption of global proportions. Using a grounded theory approach, five important themes emerged from the relevant studies.
Internet, new technologies and social networks have changed the consumption and dissemination of information. The world is witnessing the proliferation of so-called false news, especially since the beginning of 2020, when COVID-19 became the main issue on the global agenda. Alleged government actions, remedies, advice, etc., are the cause of a multitude of messages that are often false. Through surveys (1115 responses were obtained) and a review of the literature, we explore how the proliferation of COVID-19’s false news affects and impacts public opinion in Spain. We also examine how citizens are being informed about the pandemic, identify the main channels of communication used and discover the impact of misinformation. The main conclusions are that, in Spain, citizens are interested in information related to the coronavirus, but there is a lack of media credibility and reliability; the social networks and instant messaging are considered the channels that transmit the greatest amount of false news.
Este trabajo analiza las estrategias comunicativas que han empleado las instituciones hospitalarias privadas en España durante la crisis del COVID-19, así como las herramientas que han aplicado para alcanzar a sus públicos internos y externos. Mediante un cuestionario compuesto por 52 preguntas se han recabado datos de 13 de los mejores hospitales según el ranking Merco 2020. Los resultados muestran que la composición de los departamentos de Comunicación es variada y que pertenecen a distintas áreas dentro de las instituciones. Las herramientas empleadas habitualmente tanto en comunicación interna como externa se han visto ampliadas para hacer frente a la pandemia y se han creado nuevos contenidos adaptados a los diferentes públicos con el objetivo de mantenerse como fuente fiable de información sobre la enfermedad y retener la confianza tanto de empleados como de pacientes. Las conclusiones indican que la crisis sanitaria ha transformado las rutinas de trabajo de los departamentos de comunicación interna y externa y que les ha servido para ganar agilidad, inmediatez y capacidad de reacción. La gestión estratégica de la comunicación de crisis ha sido fundamental en el ámbito hospitalario privado para afrontar con éxito la pandemia y lo será en el futuro para abordar los retos que traiga consigo la Nueva Normalidad.
Objectives:
To estimate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the organization of Spanish hospital emergency departments (EDs). To explore differences between Spanish autonomous communities or according to hospital size and disease incidence in the area.
Material and methods:
Survey of the heads of 283 EDs in hospitals belonging to or affiliated with Spain's public health service. Respondents evaluated the pandemic's impact on organization, resources, and staff absence from work in March and April 2020. Assessments were for 15-day periods. Results were analyzed overall and by autonomous community, hospital size, and local population incidence rates.
Results:
A total of 246 (87%) responses were received. The majority of the EDs organized a triage system, first aid, and observation wards; areas specifically for patients suspected of having COVID-19 were newly set apart. The nursing staff was increased in 83% of the EDs (with no subgroup differences), and 59% increased the number of physicians (especially in large hospitals and locations where the COVID-19 incidence was high). Diagnostic tests for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 were the resource the EDs missed most: 55% reported that tests were scarce often or very often. Other resources reported to be scarce were FPP2 and FPP3 masks (38% of the EDs), waterproof protective gowns (34%), and space (32%). More than 5% of the physicians, nurses, or other emergency staff were on sick leave 20%, 19%, and 16% of the time. These deficiencies were greatest during the last half of March, except for tests, which were most scarce in the first 15 days. Large hospital EDs less often reported that diagnostic tests were unavailable. In areas where the COVID-19 incidence was higher, the EDs reported higher rates of staff on sick leave. Resource scarcity differed markedly by autonomous community and was not always associated with the incidence of COVID-19 in the population.
Conclusion:
The COVID-19 pandemic led to organizational changes in EDs. Certain resources became scarce, and marked differences between autonomous communities were detected.
The COVID-19 pandemic started at the end of 2019 and can be considered one of the most difficult health crises of the past century. It has had a devastating effect around the world, not only for public health, but also for the economy, labor market, and other facets of individual and societal life. Health systems have been put under high strain, and health professionals have experienced unusual and stressful work circumstances. With the aim of drawing lessons for nursing education, the present study analyzed, during the weeks of peak infection in Spain, the stress experience and coping strategies of a sample of 403 nurses from the Spanish health system. Specifically, we analyzed how tenure, stress appraisal, problem-focused coping, and support-seeking coping predicted nurses' awareness of their education needs, both in terms of technical-professional knowledge and skills and transversal skills. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that more tenure (years of experience) was related to lower stress appraisal (workload, -0.12, p < 0.05; insufficient preparation, -0.33, p < 0.001; and fear of contagion -0.36, p < 0.001) and more problem focused coping (PFC) strategies were related to higher awareness of professional (0.18, p < 0.01) and transversal educational needs (0.17, p < 0.01) while support seeking strategies just related to transversal training needs (0.10, p < 0.05). Moreover, the participants provided valuable input about specific contents to be considered in future nursing education programs. Implications for redesigning the nursing degree curriculum are analyzed in the discussion section.
COVID-19 has changed our lives forever. The world we knew until now has been transformed and nowadays we live in a completely new scenario in a perpetual restructuring transition, in which the way we live, relate, and communicate with others has been altered permanently. Within this context, risk communication is playing a decisive role when informing, transmitting, and channeling the flow of information in society. COVID-19 has posed a real pandemic risk management challenge in terms of impact, preparedness, response, and mitigation by governments, health organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), mass media, and stakeholders. In this study, we monitored the digital ecosystems during March and April 2020, and we obtained a sample of 106,261 communications through the analysis of APIs and Web Scraping techniques. This study examines how social media has affected risk communication in uncertain contexts and its impact on the emotions and sentiments derived from the semantic analysis in Spanish society during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted societies, having health, economic, political, and communication implications. Governments have had to plan and implement immediate communication strategies to explain the actions that have been taken and to manage public health campaigns. This research analyzes the Spanish Government’s communication strategy at national and international level since the announcement of the state of alert on 13 March until 9 May 2020. To this end, the 71 press conferences held by the Government have been analyzed, with the participation of 414 media outlets that have asked 1,069 questions, in addition to 1,080 publications on the official accounts of La Moncloa on Facebook and Twitter and information about Spain in the two main newspapers in six countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, USA, and UK). The results show a permanent presence of the Government, offering information via up to three press conferences on some days, revealing a strategy to control the subjects of discussion and their framing with warlike language associated with national unity. On social networks, the content related to administrative or service information prevails over image communication, with a clear dominance of press conferences and divergence between the communication interests of citizens versus the Government, preventing a true interaction between them. Regarding foreign press reports, 778 news items on Covid-19 in Spain were identified, with a prevalence in the US press and on economic rather than health issues.
An increased use of social networks is one of the most far-reaching consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from the traditional media, as the main drivers of social communication in crisis situations, individual profiles have emerged supported by social networks, which have had a similar impact to the more specialized communication media. This is the hypothesis of the research presented, which is focused on health communication and based on a virtual ethnography methodology with the use of social metrics. The aim is to understand the relationship established between the population in general and digital media in particular through the measurement of engagement. In this regard, a comparative study was carried out that describes this phenomenon over a period of six months on three social networks: YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, with a sample composed of specialized health media versus healthcare professionals. The results point to a new communications model that opens up a new space for agents whose content has a degree of engagement comparable to and even exceeding that of digital media specialized in health communication. The conclusions show that the crisis of the pandemic has accelerated the transformation of the communication sector, creating new challenges for the communication industry, media professionals, and higher education institutions related to market demands.
El 31 de diciembre de 2019 Wuhan alertó de casos graves de neumonía relacionados con un nuevo coronavirus. El 11 de marzo de 2020, la OMS declaró el estado de pandemia por SARS-CoV-2. Desde entonces, la enfermedad asociada a este virus, llamada COVID-19, ha acaparado todas las portadas un día tras otro. Tanto el enorme impacto mediático como los errores en la respuesta a esta crisis han demostrado, una vez más, que la gestión de la información en situaciones de crisis no se puede improvisar. Más aun en crisis sanitarias que pueden suponer una grave amenaza de salud pública. Analizamos la estrategia de comunicación en las primeras semanas de la pandemia en España a través de los relatos que han estado presentes y subrayando los que se han echado en falta para, finalmente, criticar el modelo de comunicación utilizado y proponer áreas de mejora.
Objective:
To analyze the characteristics of YouTube videos in Spanish on the basic measures to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Methods:
On 18 March 2020, a search was conducted on YouTube using the terms "Prevencion Coronavirus" and "Prevencion COVID-19". We studied the associations between the type of authorship and the country of publication with other variables (such as the number of likes and basic measures to prevent COVID-19 according to the World Health Organization, among others) with univariate analysis and a multiple logistic regression model.
Results:
A total of 129 videos were evaluated; 37.2% were produced in Mexico (25.6%) and Spain (11.6%), and 56.6% were produced by mass media, including television and newspapers. The most frequently reported basic preventive measure was hand washing (71.3%), and the least frequent was not touching the eyes, nose, and mouth (24.0%). Hoaxes (such as eating garlic or citrus to prevent COVID-19) were detected in 15 videos (10.9%). In terms of authorship, papers produced by health professionals had a higher probability of reporting hand hygiene (OR (95% CI) = 4.20 (1.17-15.09)) and respiratory hygiene (OR (95% CI) = 3.05 (1.22-7.62)) as preventive measures.
Conclusion:
Information from YouTube in Spanish on basic measures to prevent COVID-19 is usually not very complete and differs according to the type of authorship. Our findings make it possible to guide Spanish-speaking users on the characteristics of the videos to be viewed in order to obtain reliable information.
The communication of the Coronavirus crisis in Spain has two unexpected components: the rise of the information on social networks, especially WhatsApp, and the consolidation of TV programs on mystery and esotericism. Both have emerged to “tell the truth” in opposition to official sources and public media. For a country with a long history of treating science and the media as properties of the state, this very radical development has surprised communication scholars.
The World Health Organization (2011) has emphasized communication as one of the biggest challenges and places risk communication among the essential competencies required to tackle a pandemic. In light of the Covid-19 crisis, the aim of this paper is to assess how information forms and sources influence the public’s information-seeking behaviors, and the perception of government’s crisis response strategies during the pandemic. An online survey was conducted between March 14 and April 14, 2020, the first four weeks after the declaration of the State of Alarm in Spain. The online questionnaire included questions regarding information-seeking behavior, trust in different sources and channels, perception of government communication management, message retention, and demographic questions. Findings show a synchronous use of multiple media and platforms in line with channel complementarity theory. Three of the four most used information channels are considered mainstream news media. However, the second source of information is WhatsApp. People who relied more on the mainstream news media for Covid-19 information are generally most likely to express positive opinions of the government’s communication strategy. Findings also show that people less able to make correct attributions of governmental information were the most critical of the government’s crisis response. Finally, trust in public authorities’ decreases as the crisis evolves as a general matter. It is specially truth for the WHO, but there is also a striking exemption for local governments. Implications for theory and empirical research and recommendations and new issues to address are identified and discussed.
The current COVID-19 crisis can provide a window of opportunity for promoting sustainability transitions across the globe, but this goal can only be achieved with deliberate planning and carefully designed strategic communication in the public sphere. This policy brief outlines a three-part narrative that discursively connects the COVID-19 pandemic with its potential to facilitate sustainability transitions. We seek to make clear the connection between the coronavirus outbreak and unsustainable behavior, to explain that continuing unsustainable behavior could cause further crises of a similarly debilitating scale, and to frame the current lockdown and standstill as a timely occasion to change direction and to prevent future crises. The policy brief concludes by adapting organizational crisis communication strategies to the current situation and answering questions of how, when, by whom, and at whom communication should take place.
Risk perceptions typically underlie a complex social dynamic: Risk-related information is transmitted between individuals, this information influences risk perceptions, and risk perceptions influence which information is transmitted. This can lead to a social amplification of risk. We test how stress, a widespread affective state, influences the social dynamics of risk perception. Participants (N = 146) read articles about the controversial antibacterial agent Triclosan and were then asked to inform another person about Triclosan. Before and after reading the articles, participants reported their concern about Triclosan. Stress exposure before the task led to a smaller increase in concern in response to the articles. The stronger the increase in cortisol, the smaller the increase in concern. Furthermore, participants in the stress group transmitted less negative information about Triclosan to others. In contrast, participants’ subjective feelings of stress were associated with higher concern and more alarming risk communication. We conclude that feeling stressed can amplify risk perception, whereas the endocrine stress reaction can attenuate risk perception when information about risk is exchanged in a social context.
The World Health Organization has declared the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world a global public health emergency. It is well-known that the spread of the disease is influenced by people's willingness to adopt preventative public health behaviors, which are often associated with public risk perception. In this study, we present the first assessment of public risk perception of COVID-19 around the world using national samples (total N = 6,991) in ten countries across Europe, America, and Asia. We find that although levels of concern are relatively high, they are highest in the UK compared to all other sampled countries. Pooled across countries, personal experience with the virus, indi-vidualistic and prosocial values, hearing about the virus from friends and family, trust in government, science, and medical professionals, personal knowledge of government strategy, and personal and collective efficacy were all significant predictors of risk perception. Although there was substantial variability across cultures, individualistic worldviews, personal experience, prosocial values, and social amplification through friends and family in particular were found to be significant determinants in more than half of the countries examined. Risk perception correlated significantly with reported adoption of preventative health behaviors in all ten countries. Implications for effective risk communication are discussed.
Background:
The Internet is a large source of health information, and it has the capacity to influence its users. However, the information found on the Internet often lacks scientific rigor, as anyone may upload its content. This factor is a cause of great concern to scientific societies, governments, and users.
Objective:
The objective of our study was to investigate the information about the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the Internet.
Methods:
On 2020-02-29 we performed a Google search with the terms "Prevention coronavirus", "Prevention COVID-19", "Prevención coronavirus", and "Prevención COVID-19". A univariate analysis was performed to study the association between the type of authorship, and country of publication, and recommendations to avoid COVID-19 according to the World Health Organization.
Results:
In total, 80 weblinks were reviewed. Most of them were produced in the USA and Spain (72.5%), by digital media and official public health organizations (75.1%). The most mentioned WHO preventive measure was "wash your hands frequently" (81.3%). Less frequent recommendation was related to "stay home if you feel unwell" (32.5%). The analysis by type of author (official public health organizations versus digital media) revealed significant differences regarding the recommendation to wear a mask if you are healthy only if caring for a person with suspected COVID-19 (OR = 4.39). According to country of publication (Spain versus the USA) significant differences were detected regarding some recommendations, such as "wash your hands frequently" (OR = 9.82), "cover your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze" (OR = 4.59), or "stay home if you feel unwell" (OR = 0.31).
Conclusions:
It is necessary to urge and promote the use of the websites of official public health organizations when seeking information on COVID-19 preventive measures on the Internet. In this way, they will be able to obtain high-quality information more frequently, and such websites may improve their accessibility and positioning given that search engines justify the positioning of links obtained in a search based on the frequency of access to them.
Currently, the online interaction between citizens and hospitals is poor, as users believe that there are shortcomings that could be improved. This study analyzes patients’ opinions of the online communication strategies of hospitals in Spain. Therefore, a mixed-method is proposed. Firstly, a qualitative analysis through a focus-group was carried out, so around twenty representatives of national, regional and local patients’ associations were brought together. Secondly, the research is supplemented with a content assessment of the Twitter activity of the most influential hospitals in Spain. The results reveal that the general public appreciate hospitals’ communication potential through social media, although they are generally unaware of how it works. The group says that, apart from the lack of interaction, they find it hard to understand certain messages, and some publications give a biased picture. In order to improve communication, patients and relatives are demanding that their perspective be taken into consideration in the messages issued to enhance the quality of life and well-being of society.
Using the Zika outbreak as a context of inquiry, this study examines how assigning blame on social media relates to the social amplification of risk framework (SARF). Past research has discussed the relationship between the SARF and traditional mass media, but the role of social media platforms in amplification or attenuation of risk perceptions remains understudied. Moreover, the communication and perceptions of Zika‐related risk are not limited to discussions in English. To capture conversations in languages spoken by affected countries, this study combines data in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. To better understand the assignment of blame and perceptions of risk in new media environments, we looked at three different facets of conversations surrounding Zika on Facebook and Twitter: the prominence of blame in each language, how specific groups were discussed throughout the Zika outbreak, and the sentiment expressed about genetically engineered (GE) mosquitoes. We combined machine learning with human coding to analyze public discourse in all three languages. We found differences between languages and platforms in the amount of blame assigned to different groups. We also found more negative sentiments expressed about GE mosquitoes on Facebook than on Twitter. These meaningful differences only emerge from analyses across the three different languages and platforms, pointing to the importance of multilingual approaches for risk communication research. Specific recommendations for outbreak and risk communication practitioners are also discussed.
This article addresses how uncertainties during crisis situations evolve over time and how social positions dynamically affect the collective sense-making process in social media crisis communication. We carried out two case studies on Twitter: (1) the Brussels attacks (2016) with 4,390,784 tweets and (2) the Munich rampage (2016) with 1,258,227 tweets. By applying computed regression-based time-series analyses, we revealed the underlying tweet behavior. As next steps, we trained a machine learning algorithm to identify tweets that express uncertainty and we conducted social network analyses to determine the most influential actors and their social positions. The results reveal that tweet behavior in early crisis stages is dominated by information distribution and guided by content that is characterized by a high percentage of tweets expressing uncertainty. Based on our results, we identified two forms of collective sense-making: (1) acute and guided collective sense-making and (2) evaluative and retrospective collective sense-making.
Background
The GRADE-CERQual (Confidence in Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research) approach has been developed by the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) Working Group. The approach has been developed to support the use of findings from qualitative evidence syntheses in decision making, including guideline development and policy formulation.CERQual includes four components for assessing how much confidence to place in findings from reviews of qualitative research (also referred to as qualitative evidence syntheses): (1) methodological limitations, (2) coherence, (3) adequacy of data and (4) relevance. This paper is part of a series providing guidance on how to apply CERQual and focuses on making an overall assessment of confidence in a review finding and creating a CERQual Evidence Profile and a CERQual Summary of Qualitative Findings table. Methods
We developed this guidance by examining the methods used by other GRADE approaches, gathering feedback from relevant research communities and developing consensus through project group meetings. We then piloted the guidance on several qualitative evidence syntheses before agreeing on the approach. ResultsConfidence in the evidence is an assessment of the extent to which a review finding is a reasonable representation of the phenomenon of interest. Creating a summary of each review finding and deciding whether or not CERQual should be used are important steps prior to assessing confidence. Confidence should be assessed for each review finding individually, based on the judgements made for each of the four CERQual components. Four levels are used to describe the overall assessment of confidence: high, moderate, low or very low. The overall CERQual assessment for each review finding should be explained in a CERQual Evidence Profile and Summary of Qualitative Findings table. Conclusions
Structuring and summarising review findings, assessing confidence in those findings using CERQual and creating a CERQual Evidence Profile and Summary of Qualitative Findings table should be essential components of undertaking qualitative evidence syntheses. This paper describes the end point of a CERQual assessment and should be read in conjunction with the other papers in the series that provide information on assessing individual CERQual components.
While emerging technologies such as social media have demonstrated value for crisis communications, significant question remains regarding how these tools can be most effectively leveraged to facilitate the flow of valid information under crisis conditions. In an effort to address these issues, this article examines the use of Twitter during the 2015–2016 Zika virus outbreak in the United States. Particular attention is paid to network structures within the Zika conversation and how different actors and communities contribute to the flow of information throughout the broader Twitter community. Public-facing organizations can benefit from a deeper understanding of the nature and structure of spontaneously occurring communities on social media as well as the types of content that they create and circulate. As such, these findings have significant implications for the development of effective social media strategies during natural disasters and public health emergencies. In particular, this analysis identifies several predominant themes communicated through Zika-related tweets as well as a number of distinct communities and influential actors. The findings suggest that respected political actors, public institutions, as well as those with valid scientific credentials can help to facilitate the flow of accurate and vital information across disparate communities.
In this paper, we report on a case study examining types of organizational culture influencing communication as an important factor in the study of successful IT adoption and implementation in health care. We observed a hospital organization and focused on technological innovations and the accompanying communication factors in the successful implementation of IT. The results demonstrate the importance of the organizational culture as an important factor in establishing well-balanced communication as a primary influence factor in the implementation of new technologies. Based on theoretical and empirical insights, we propose a model describing the relationship of organizational culture, communication, and the level of success in the implementation and adaptation of new IT systems in hospitals.
Face-to-face outreach and in-person training have traditionally been key strategies in reaching agricultural producers, workers, and communities with safety and health information, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced outreach educators to be creative and find alternative ways to reach, communicate, and share such information. In this commentary, we describe our use of social media to reach Latino/a cattle feedyard workers with COVID-19 related information. As a result of our effort, we reached over 54,000 people and demonstrated there is an audience for Spanish-language agricultural safety and health information. Social media can be a cost-effective method for virtual outreach in this new normal. We should look at this time as an opportunity to learn more about how our stakeholders obtain information and about how best we can connect with them. Although our outreach methods may be changing, our goal is not - we will continue to work to improve the safety and health of those who work in agriculture.
La crisis del Covid-19 ha puesto a prueba muchos procesos propios de las estructuras sociales. La comunicación corporativa y las relaciones públicas son ejemplos de estos procesos que se enfrentan a una situación inédita, difícilmente prevista y de la que habrá que sacar unas lecciones de cara al futuro. En este artículo, mezcla de investigación y ensayo, pretendemos, en base a la teoría, pero a partir de la experiencia y de algunos estudios llevados a cabo por profesionales de la comunicación, reflexionar sobre cómo afecta y condicionará la crisis de la pandemia del Covid-19 a la práctica de la comunicación corporativa en general, y de dos de sus áreas de especialización, la comunicación interna y la responsabilidad social corporativa (RSC). Hacemos hincapié en la importancia de que las organizaciones asuman que la reputación es un riesgo y que ese riesgo debe ser gestionado con las técnicas y herramientas propias de las relaciones públicas, pues si algo ha puesto de manifiesto la crisis de la pandemia del llamado coronavirus ha sido la importancia para las organizaciones y marcas de la gestión de unas relaciones de confianza con sus públicos.
Introduction: The internal communication inside the organization, whether is interpersonal, group or intergroup, must involve all the collaborators in order the mission, values, operative principles and the behaviour patterns be common, to generate the organizational development and motivation.Development: The shift change in nursing is a fundamental moment of learning and information transmission regarding the patient. The information given on the shift change must be objective and updated, always considering the ethical-deontological principles and a technical language about the care given to the patient, resulting of the application of a scientific methodology and reflexion strategies. In order to ease the information transmission, we intent, with this work, to do a practical instrument, in this case a written one, to aid the shift changing. For this, it was performed a study in a sample of nurses to whom was applied a Data Collection Questionnaire.Conclusions: The use of a support tool for the shift change is one of the pillars of the improvement of nursing care.
Smoke haze and dengue fever seasons were nationwide environmental health risk events that plagued Singapore between April and June 2013. Although relatively harmless compared to dengue fever, people in Singapore were visibly more disturbed by smoke haze. They engaged in preventive behaviors such as frantic purchasing of protective masks or staying indoors most of the time. Such reactions hint at the possibility of the social amplification of risk, a term coined to explain irrationally high public concerns over relatively minor risk issues, due to the visible nature of the risk event or people’s reactions to it. The current study aims to confirm the social amplification of risk for the haze event, as well as to test for the underlying reasons behind this phenomenon. Among the antecedents explored were the influence of information channels (traditional media and social media) on risk perception, negative affect, information seeking, and information sharing on the enactment of preventive behaviors. Data were collected from a sample of 343 college students through an online questionnaire. Results supported the presence of social amplification of risk for the haze event, and social media exposure was found to overshadow the influence of traditional media exposure on risk perception, negative affect, information seeking, information sharing, and preventive behaviors.
Strong leadership is critical in disaster situations when "patient surge" challenges a hospital's capacity to respond and normally acceptable patterns of care are disrupted. Activation of the emergency operations plan triggers an incident command system structure for leadership decision making. Yet, implementation of the emergency operations plan and incident command system protocols is ultimately subject to nursing and hospital leadership at the service- and unit level. The results of these service-/unit-based leadership decisions have the potential to directly impact staff and patient safety, quality of care, and ultimately, patient outcomes. Despite the critical nature of these events, nurse leaders and administrators receive little education regarding leadership and decision making during disaster events. The purpose of this study is to identify essential competencies of nursing and hospital administrators' leadership during disaster events. An integrative mixed-methods design combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis was used. Five focus groups were conducted with nurse leaders and hospital administrators at a large urban hospital in the Northeastern United States in a collaborative group process to generate relevant leadership competencies. Concept Systems Incorporated was used to sort, prioritize, and analyze the data (http://conceptsystemsinc.com/). The results suggest that participants' institutional knowledge (of existing resources, communications, processes) and prior disaster experience increase leadership competence.
https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/5896218.pdf
Uno de los principales retos en la práctica de la gestión de comunicación en los últimos años es la relación entre los objetivos corporativos y los objetivos de comunicación. Poder evaluar y auditar las funciones de comunicación y su práctica de excelencia es vital para demostrar su valor y vincularlas a los objetivos corporativos. La concepción de la excelencia en relaciones públicas y gestión de comunicación ha estado marcada por la Teoría de la Excelencia. Este trabajo, presenta una nueva aproximación empírica cuantitativa a la excelencia en la gestión de comunicación a través del Comparative Excellence Framework (CEF). Para ello se empleó el modelo CEF consiste en la combinación de reflexiones conceptuales, autoevaluaciones de los profesionales y análisis estadísticos. Los datos se obtuvieron a través de una encuesta con una muestra de 2.777 profesionales de comunicación de 42 países europeos. Este trabajo presenta el análisis para España, que se basa en una muestra de 101 profesionales en activo en departamentos relaciones públicas o gestión de comunicación. Los departamentos de comunicación españoles se sitúan en los primeros puestos de Europa en cuanto a la excelencia se refiere, ya que uno de cada cuatro departamentos de comunicación españoles es excelente. Los departamentos de comunicación excelentes tienen mucho más acceso a la junta directiva de su organización. En esos departamentos, la mayoría de los profesionales desempeña el rol de facilitador estratégico. Además, están más implicados en la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa y en el posicionamiento del CEO de la organización. Sin embargo, la excelencia no se relaciona en España con una mayor capacidad de gestión de los retos asociados a la velocidad y el volumen de la información, ni con una visión positiva de los canales digitales. Este trabajo, presenta el Comparative Excellence Framework, como alternativa al modelo preponderante idealista y normativo de la Teoría de la Excelencia supone un modelo conceptual original cercano a los modelos de excelencia de gestión empresarial y al mismo tiempo aporta una aproximación empírica cuantitativa a la excelencia en la gestión de comunicación.
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One of the main challenges in the practice of communication management in the last few years is the link between corporate and communication strategies. Evaluating and auditing communication functions and its excellent practices are essential to demonstrate value and integrate communication into corporate objectives. The Theory of Excellence has largely influenced the conceptualization of excellence in public relations and communication management. This paper presents a new empirical quantitative approach to excellence in communication management through the Comparative Excellence Framework (CEF). The model CEF is to combine conceptual reflexions, practitioners’ self-evaluations and statistical analysis. Data were stored through a survey with a sample of 2,777 communication practitioners in 42 European countries. This paper put forward the analysis of data from Spanish, based on a sample of 101 practitioners working in communication management and public relations departments. Results shows that communication departments in Spain are placed between the first positions in Europe when come to excellence. Excellence communication functions have more access to the organizational executive board. Most practitioners working in those excellent functions play a strategic facilitator role. Moreover, these departments are more involved in CSR and positioning CEOs. Nevertheless, excellence is not related in Spain with a better management of challenges of high volume and speed of information, neither with a more positive evaluation of digital media. This paper presents the Comparative Excellence Framework as an alternative framework to the dominant normative and idealistic model of the Excellent Theory, conceptually hand in hand with other managerial models and through an empirical quantitative approach to excellence in communication management.
It has long been recognised that the traditional media play a key role in representing risk and are a significant source of information which can shape how people perceive and respond to hazard events. Early work utilising the social amplification of risk framework (SARF) sought to understand the discrepancy between expert and lay perceptions of risk and patterns of risk intensification and attenuation with reference to the media. However, the advent of Web 2.0 challenges traditional models of communication. To date there has been limited consideration of social media within the SARF and its role in mediating processes of risk perception and communication. Against this backdrop, we focus on the social media platform Twitter to consider the social amplification of risk in relation to ash dieback disease (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus); a tree health issue that attracted intense media attention when it was first identified in the UK in 2012. We present an empirical analysis of 25,600 tweets in order to explore what people were saying about ash dieback on Twitter, who was talking about it and how they talked about it. Our discussion outlines the themes around which talk about ash dieback was orientated, the significance of users’ environmental ‘affiliations’ and the role of including links (URLs) to traditional media coverage. We utilise the notion of ‘piggybacking’ to demonstrate how information is customised in line with group/individual identities and interests and introduce the concept of the ‘frame fragment’ to illustrate how information is selected and moved around Twitter emphasising certain features of the messages. The paper affords a detailed consideration of the way in which people and organisations simultaneously appropriate, construct and pass on risk-relevant information. A conclusion is that social media has the potential to transform the media landscape within which the SARF was originally conceived, presenting renewed challenges for risk communication.
Risk communication is a novel concept in the scientific pursuit to understand and analyze risk related decisions and behavior in modem society. But the new term has only changed the focus of attention from a static description of what risk means for different communities to a dynamic analysis on how these communities exchange information about risk and adjust their behavior.The concept of social amplification of risk provides a framework for the analysis of communication as well as other social activities and constitutes a dynamic model which facilitates the systematic interpretation of empirical data and attempts to integrate the existing perspectives into a higher-order terminological model. The concept will certainly not encompass all perspectives,and it will not be capable of unifying different scientific camps.
Despite devastating effects on health outcomes and disease progression, many people living with HIV (PLWH) are non-adherent to their medications. Medication self-efficacy is a pivotal factor in medication adherence, yet its formation and relationship with other factors are understudied. This study examines a model that considers the role of three communicative factors (patient–provider communication, social support, and social undermining) and two behavioral health factors (depression and alcohol abuse) and medication self-efficacy impacting medication adherence. Methods included a cross-sectional design using a survey questionnaire of 344 PLWH. Findings indicated that 25% of variance in medication adherence can be explained by a mediation model where depression (B = −.18) and provider–patient communication (B = .21) affect medication self-efficacy, which in turn impacts medication adherence (B = .64). Other variables, including demographics, did not add any explanatory power. These findings demonstrate the complex nature of medication adherence and the formation of medication self-efficacy.
Healthcare is one of the many human-centered services offered, the other being legal services, hospitality services, transport services, etc. The healthcare is also the foremost in all of these personal services. Every section of the healthcare experience must embody and convey the message that the hospital is the center of health and wellness in the community. The connection between healthcare provider and patient needs to be developed to improve the delivery model.
However with the rise of healthcare costs to providers, increase in operating costs, informative and knowledgeable customers; hospitals need branding to drive strategies, convey their expanding range of services, make an emotional connection with customers and create lasting relationships thereby generating profits.
Companies are losing out because there is often little or no integration between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and marketing departments and their respective strategies. This misses brand building opportunities and may also confuse as well as disenfranchise company stakeholders.
Unless CSR becomes central to the marketing director's agenda, it will not have the desired effect and can potentially create a backlash. The nature of the business — category, customers, competitors — should dictate how much and in which ways, a company should promote its CSR-related activities.
Here, it lies the importance of developing a more strategic, distinct, sustainable and well defined brand platform. It is ultimately the hospital's brand and the customers’ ability to trust that will aid in the decision-making process between competitive healthcare hospitals. Patient expectations and desires are changing, altering the competitive landscape. Employees are a hospital's most vital force and communication medium. Thus, the brand is the greatest asset for uniting employees around a singular culture and mission. This study highlights a conceptual framework that can be used for healthcare organizations to develop the revenues based on branding.
How to cite this article
Kumar PN, Jacob A, Thota S. Impact of Healthcare Marketing and Branding on Hospital Services. Int J Res Foundation Hosp Healthc Adm 2014;2(1):19-24.
One of the most perplexing problems in risk analysis is why some relatively minor risks or risk events, as assessed by technical experts, often elicit strong public concerns and result in substantial impacts upon society and economy. This article sets forth a conceptual framework that seeks to link systematically the technical assessment of risk with psychological, sociological, and cultural perspectives of risk perception and risk-related behavior. The main thesis is that hazards interact with psychological, social, institutional, and cultural processes in ways that may amplify or attenuate public responses to the risk or risk event. A structural description of the social amplification of risk is now possible. Amplification occurs at two stages: in the transfer of information about the risk, and in the response mechanisms of society. Signals about risk are processed by individual and social amplification stations, including the scientist who communicates the risk assessment, the news media, cultural groups, interpersonal networks, and others. Key steps of amplifications can be identified at each stage. The amplified risk leads to behavioral responses, which, in turn, result in secondary impacts. Models are presented that portray the elements and linkages in the proposed conceptual framework.
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