Public Relation is an evolving concept that is gaining a lot of importance in the hospital setup today.
That is so because of its vital role in communicating within the various departments of the hospital and to the outside world. Specifically speaking, with an increased focus on value-based care, the hospital and patient relationship assume paramount significance here for achieving patient satisfaction and building long-term reliable healthcare engagements.

The various entities in the healthcare chain including the society, patients, employees, caretakers, visitors, media, suppliers and medical personnel give their opinion and feedback on the care services. This influences the brand, reputation and competitiveness of the hospital for continued business sustenance. Therefore, there is a need for good public relations through communication mechanisms for begetting appreciation and goodwill from these valuable stakeholders.

Yet, there are a number of challenges faced by Healthcare Operations Management which call for the need of developing better public relations in hospitals by seeking the professional expertise of Healthcare Consulting Firms. Some of them are -

• Contending with increased healthcare expenses and meeting the sophisticated demands of patients to avoid public criticism
• Overcoming several hurdles  for delivering quality care at affordable rates
• Efficiently handling the professional management of the hospital
• Monitoring and balancing the increased involvement of government agencies and consumer protection forums with respect to patient care and hospital internal management issues

• Assist the top management in clearly articulating the hospital’s policies, vision and mission to the outside world.
• Help the various departments within to showcase a consistent image of the hospital for good publicity.
• Suggest and improvise adoption of latest marketing techniques for maintaining the competitive edge.
• Formulating and guiding the hospital staff training and retention activities to ensure that they are kept abreast with the latest medical technologies and reduce turnover.
• Inculcate the correct communication mechanisms to the hospital management so as to reinstate the importance of courtesy, kindness, empathy and friendly approaches in patient care to provide a comfortable healing environment.
• Enable the hospitals to be proactive in epidemic management by clearly communicating preventive methods to the patients and their families, installing the necessary medical equipment for screening and taking precautions to effectively treat the affected patients without ignorance.
• Advise the hospitals to maintain and upgrade their infrastructure to be compatible with the latest industry standards.
• Recommend the new relevant healthcare technology updates and processes to the hospital so that the patients are benefitted with the best treatment approaches.
• Supervise the hospital in maintaining proper hygiene standards and waste disposal management so as to maintain a clean environment and prevent infections and diseases.
• Deploy the appropriate communication methods in all possible ways to aid the hospital in

• Conveying its message to the public
• Dealing  with the media
• Ensuring smooth intramural functioning and internal operations.

• Providing relevant information to patients, families and visitors for inquiries, registration, health status at discharge, follow-ups
• Facilitating an open house approach to address visitor queries without disturbing the routine care functions.
• Using easily comprehensive signage boards and floor plans at strategic points and providing information brochures and visitor guides for familiarizing the hospital environment.
• Improvising proper methods to record and track complaints, suggestions and compliments through emails, collection boxes and registers.
• Improving public interactions through health fairs, awareness programs, healthcare campaigns, voluntary services and donation camps.
• Advising the administrative staff on overcoming shortcomings in hospital functions.
• Advertising through social media, billboards, newsletters and articles for better branding.
• Conducting patient satisfaction surveys and general opinion polls to improve care quality.

Categories of Healthcare Apps

• Emergency Care Apps: Recommend nearest and most effective care destination to patients in the event of emergencies. May also provide information about waiting times, routes, insurance possibilities, approximate treatment costs and travel times.
• Wayfinding/Guiding Apps: Aid patients in quickly finding concerned departments, physicians and other concerned medical staff in healthcare destinations.
• Pregnancy and Childbirth Apps: Help parents especially mothers to schedule and track their appointments. Also provides education on pre-natal, post-natal and newborn care.
• Hospital Apps: Apps used to aid hospital marketing, branding and advertising. It also gives details about services and facilities available, shows virtual tour demos and provides general hospital information.
• Outpatient Care Apps: Guide patients about their health status, helps to monitor it and increases adherence to prescribed treatment plans. These apps also have treatment trackers for managing diagnostic results and care procedures.
• Appointment and Referral Apps: Facilitates speedy appointment bookings and referral processes thereby boosting doctor-patient relationships.
• Wellness Apps: Educates and helps patients to monitor their well-being with health trackers, exercise schedules, nutrition/diet recommendations and health tips.
• Medication Tracking Apps: Encourages adherence to prescribed medications by tracking doses, intervals, meals and also provides reminders for immunization and re-stocking drugs.

Desirable App Features

1. Possessing relevant functionality  based on patient requirements and demands
2. Having a pleasant and user-friendly interface
3. Aiding  staff training for better application implementation and adoption
4. Promoting  its usage by leveraging marketing strategy and social media

Healthcare App Benefits

• Provide complete transparency to patients by informing waiting times and even allows them to select the nearest suitable healthcare facility with shortest waiting times in crisis situations.
• Gives access to right information in a time of need thereby answering patient concerns and eliminating ambiguity. Example:Online ’What to expect’ booklets for pregnant mothers.
• Bridges the emotional gap with patient empowerment by involving patient in decision making, goal setting and self-monitoring and bringing them closer to medical staff.
• Enables chronically ill patients to take control of their own health with easy usability and connects them with caregivers for any issues thereby promoting early medical intervention.
• Offers splendid digital experience with quick 24/7 access to healthcare information. It also intimates patients about special discounts, healthcare packages and offers, sends personalized messages and collects feedback which in turn fosters better patient relationship management.

1. NABH has imposed standards for hospitals from two perspectives - patient and organization that varies with the size of the hospital and health care provider
2. Patient centric standards include AAC (Access, Assess and Continuity of care), COP (Continuity of Care), MOM (Management of Medication), PRE (Patients Right to Education) and HIC (Hospital Infection Control).
3. Organization centric standards include CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement), ROM (Responsibility of Management), FMS (Facility Management and Safety), HRM (Human Resource Management), IMS (Information Management System).

• In-patients procedures
• Out-patients procedures
• Procurement of medicines,  medical equipment including surgical equipment and maintaining adequate inventory to meet  ad hoc requirements
• Treatment procedures for in patient and outpatients
• Core committee framework to monitor clinical and managerial processes
• Periodic review meetings - To ensure continuous process improvement through key performance indicators.
• Quality standards have been imposed even for the waiting time for outpatients with regards to consultation and admission formalities for  in-patients
• Medication and treatment procedures should be documented for all cases
• ICU procedures and surgical procedures done should be documented with pre surgery and post surgery details for all cases
• Periodic clinical audits should be conducted.
• Dedicated complaint and grievance cell should be designated to address the grievance and complaints from patients
• Committee to follow up grievance addressed and resolved should be set up.
• Safety guidelines for employees and patients should be ensured at times of accidents and emergencies by the dedicated patients’ safety committee.
• Clinical risk committee should function monitoring and correcting clinical errors. Usually administrators, doctors and nurses are the core participants.
• There are specific guidelines for even needle pricks and anaesthetic procedures. Non-compliance with medical guidelines should be strictly prohibited and penalized
• Records proving rectifications in cases of errors occurred or quality guidelines violation, should be maintained for audit
• Quality standards are incorporated for wards and rooms in terms of size, facilities, hygiene, nutritional diets, planned nursing procedures etc.,
• Proper clinical disposal procedures should be practiced to avoid infections to patients and neighbourhood promoting environmental safety as clinical waste are serious health hazards