THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION IN HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Objective: Th e aim of the research was to establish the state and importance of internal communication in a particular health care facility and recommend improvements. Methods: In line with the objective of the study, a qualitative survey in the form of in-depth interviews with the top management of the hospital was carried out, together with an analysis of the basic prerequisites (elements) of eff ective internal communication. Principal factors aff ecting internal communication were identifi ed, and their impact and importance were subsequently verifi ed by quantitative research-a questionnaire survey among employees. Results: Th e study verifi ed hypotheses regarding the importance of internal communication and its impact on professional behaviour and performance, evaluated basic prerequisites for eff ective internal communication, and provided suggestions for their improvement. Conclusion: Th e importance of internal communication in the monitored hospital has been confi rmed as significant. Employees perceive internal communication as important and agree that it aff ects their work performance and behaviour. While at the onset of our research, some of the preconditions of a functioning internal communication were not set correctly, subsequently the hospital took action to improve them. KEY WORDS internal communication, management, hospital INTRODUCTION Th e latest survey of the European Agency for Safety and Protection of Health at Work generated a list of the most common sources of work-related stress. In the overall score, which included not only the EU countries (31 in total), the leading stressors were both communication between the management and employees and insuffi cient communication among employees. In the Czech Republic, poor communication appears in the top three rankings, much more signifi cantly than in other countries. As many as 62% of employees agree that their work performance suff ers due to the poor communication among colleagues, while for 65 % employees , the main stressor is poor communication between the management and employees. Th e top rank (79%) as the greatest source of stress belongs to communication with clients, customers, patients, students. In other countries, the list is dominated by other stress-ors, e. g. lack of time, inadequate security, overtime, discrimination, etc. No other country records such a strong dissatisfaction with communication, according to the survey. (EASHW, 2010)