In order to provide effective healthcare, medical professionals must share knowledge and expertise with their colleagues. This is especially true when dealing with patient cases that require multi-disciplinary involvement. Similarly, the pace of development in diagnostics and therapeutics means that the ability to share information quickly and easily is essential, especially as medical professionals become increasingly specialised within their teams.
On paper, most healthcare providers are quite well connected, with fixed and mobile telephony, email and video-conferencing tools embedded in their operations. However, these channels typically exist in isolation, creating a fragmented and inefficient platform that actually limits the flow of information, creating clinical blindspots. Worse still, the information shared is typically trapped in that channel, creating knowledge silos that are difficult to manage and even harder to use.
Bringing it all together with unified communications
As the name implies, a unified communications (UC) platform like Microsoft Teams brings together all your channels into a single system. This means that consultants can take their office extension with them everywhere, for instance, answering calls on their mobile phones. With just one phone number, colleagues can avoid endless rounds of phone tag and wasted time trying to track each other across the campus.
Microsoft Teams opens new potential channels for making contact too. Instant messaging is ideal for quick questions where a phone call is inappropriate, or a colleague is not immediately available. Not only are these messages available on the same mobile phone interface (UC), but they can also be shared among teams in the form of a group chat. Knowledge is captured, stored and shared quickly and easily.
And there is always the option to organise ad-hoc video conferences when colleagues need eyes-on information to assist. Collaborating in this way allows medics to deliver care more quickly and accurately, reducing the risk of misdiagnosis and mistreatment – without having to page a consultant.
Closing the gaps
By having all your communications running through a single platform, you can solve the problem of contact silos. Colleagues can connect whenever they need, wherever they are, through the most appropriate channel.
Details of every interaction are captured for review by stakeholders. The UC platform also automatically creates an audit log of communications should one be needed to investigate a patient complaint or to support a regulatory review.
Delivering high-quality care in a modern healthcare environment is very much a collaborative process. By deploying unified communications, you can equip employees in both clinical and non-clinical roles with the tools they need to work together more closely – even if they are separated geographically. In doing so, they will be empowered to deliver a more effective service, further improving patient outcomes.
To learn more about how Gamma can add value to Microsoft Teams for telephony and make it a truly unified comms platform, please join our webinar on 1st October with our special guest Ioana Marinescu, Teams Technical Specialist aligned to Healthcare, at Microsoft.
Discover more about the benefits of Unified Communications in healthcare.
