Patient satisfaction and social media. BSCRS - SOOS

BSCRS

Patient Satisfaction and Social Media

Good afternoon, I am

Chris Demeyere

Social media

Social media is not new.

It follows the same rules that have applied to marketing,

communities, PR and communication for a very long time.

But, as a distribution system, its scale and speed are

unprecedented.

Scale & Speed

Due to this scale and speed, communication is no longer

following the typical hierarchy. The gatekeepers are gone.

The result of that is that a lot of what used to be handled by

professionals now becomes the responsibility of all.

Actors/Parties

Communication on social media is not A to B. Conversation is public

and even when private, that should be the assumption.

Parties:

• Patients

• Medical professionals (involved with the patient)

• The edical community

• Hospitals

• The government

• The public, including the press

• …

Objectives

Every strategy starts with an objective. So what is the

objective of the different actors in the communication flow?

All actors may have different objectives. The right

approach will always be a compromise between the

objectives of the different parties.

Different objectives

Different parties want different things.

Patients who complain are the underdog and will typically be

trusted more. Communication is aggressive.

Caregivers may want to protect their reputation, confidentiality

and avoid liability. Communication is conservative.

Governments, the public and the press use social media as

a source of information and a basis for action.

Communication is reactive.

Consequences

If an aggressive style of communication meets a passive or

conservative style of communication, the aggressive communication

will win.

These complaints will be seen by a lot of people, this (possibly

incorrect) information will be accepted as factual. This is potentially

harmful to other patients who make ill informed decisions as a result

of it, may lead to ill informed policy decisions and does a lot of harm

to the reputation of caregivers, both on a micro and macro level.

What should we do?

Communicate

Becoming a source of factual information is essential to prevent

the spread of wrong information.

Monitoring social media may allow caregivers to find an unhappy

or uninformed patient and allow for the problem to be fixed.

Good communication is a vital part of helping people.

How?

Monitor for mentions of institutions and caregivers. (Not patients) All

mentions have to be followed up with a public acknowledgement

and an invitation to a private conversation.

Caregivers should be a source of factual information on social

media.

Sharing general advice (third party verified), answering general

questions… can be seen as a pre-emptive approach to fix both

misinformation and poor satisfaction.

What not to do

Sharing any form of individual information on social media is ill advised and potentially illegal.

Privacy on social media is never completely guaranteed, even in private messages!

Emotional or negative reactions to complaints should be avoided at all cost as well. All conversations should be

considered to be public.

How to follow up

The person asking a question or sharing a complaint is not the only important party in a conversation.

Since all conversations are public, we need to consider the public as a passive party. This means that all answers given

should be written for the public at large.

So we need to acknowledge the question or complaint and then propose a private way to elaborate.

Privacy

Patient-Doctor confidentiality continues to exist on social

media. Even when the patient seems to share their own

personal data.

But the privacy of medical professionals is important too. If

this is violated, a polite private request to respect, together

with an invitation for a private conversation, is the best

course of action.

Patients’ point of view

People complain on social media because they feel

powerless. Patients may not feel like they have control,

that they can ask questions or that they are being listened to.

That is why our approach on social media must be

understanding and empathic. Patients wish to be taken

seriously and we need to show them that we care.

What to do with unending

complaints and trolls

When confronted with repeated complaints from the same person,

false information or people who wish to antagonize:

Remember that all conversations are public. We care about the

other people who read this message.

So, communicate in a kind, positive and factual way, if possible

to every comment.

Removing messages is a last option and should only be used to

prevent harassment and privacy violations. It should always come

with an explanation or a reference to policy.

Organising content

Write down what (in general) we wish to communicate and

why. Make a plan and stick to the frequency.

Regularly measure this, based on the “why”. Are we

achieving our goal? What can we do to improve?

Using tools like Buffer, Hootsuite and canva.com (for

images) can make this easier.

A blog can be the a great way to be complete and can be

distributed on social media.

Organising responses

Medical professionals and medical institutions may have a

list of Frequently Asked Questions. These can be sent to the

legal department so they can be checked for compliance.

These can be the basis for a response on social media.

By monitoring and expanding this list, most questions can be

answered quickly, completely and without liability.

By publishing this on the website, casual visitors can find

them too. Often they will be shared among patients directly.

Organising planning

Make sure that all this follows a plan, consistency is vital.

Identify the stakeholders and actors and make communication a

clear priority for a specific person.

Or, in a single person practice, clear 15 minutes per day for this.

Listening always comes first, then comes a public

acknowledgement, then a private solution.

This can be as simple as: “Hey Thomas, we would be happy to

talk about this. Can you send us a private message?”

In conclusion

Not using social media can be harmful.

Social media must always be used to communicate in a positive

and informative way.

On social media, medical professionals are in a level playing field.

Always respect privacy, even in private messages.

Be human

Show that we care

Inspiration

Inspiration

Inspiration

Questions?

Feel free to contact me:

[email protected]