Benefits Of Electronic Communication

Introduction

The transition from the industrial age to the information age has transformed nearly all sectors globally. Information and communication technology is one of the fast-changing departments in any industry or organization. In the health sector, for example, the implementation of Electronic Health Records has been a major issue of concern to most institutions of the world. There are multiple benefits as well as barriers to successful implementation of these programs, especially in line with communication. Just as in the research conducted by Bishop et al (2013) states, it can be noted that the organizations that were sampled for the study have taken the initiative positively as a result of the multiple benefits. This, however, comes

The patients are attended to much faster and conveniently as compared to the case of traditional paper or face-to-face communication with the attendants. The patents no longer have to wait in long queues to acquire medical services. The electronic medical records enable quick data transfer and processing alongside provision of the most appropriate diagnosis for the conditions of the patients attended to.

The new communication systems also give patients additional satisfaction as compared to the traditional techniques. Patients are delighted at the quality of communication services that come along with the program. As pointed out by one of the physicians at Colorado Permanente, the system is patient-centred and a real satisfier to them (Bishop et al., 2013). The positive feedback that is received from the patients is a clear indicator that the move towards adoption of the electronic communication services in the health sector is aimed at value creation for the

Resistance to change is often a challenge that any new system faces. There are attendants that have been using the old communication systems to the extent that acceptance of the electronic services becomes a challenge. The same resistance is also witnessed from patients that prefer using methods that they are conversant with. This makes it difficult to put in place new programs that are aimed at improving the quality of communication.

Other than resistance, there are also cost implications on the medical facilities. The initial set-up costs are substantial (DePhillips, 2011). Expensive equipment such as workstations, routers, servers, data cables, printers and software have to be acquired. Most of these costs are not charged on the patients. There are also cumulative maintenance costs that have to be realized with continuous use of the electronic communication