Reasons Why Public Relations is Required Or is Necessary in Hospitals

In the world, there has been an unbelievable sturdy amendment in the social, cultural, economical, and technological areas. As a result of this amendment, the corporations and the institutions, of which we are members, have been under the impact of this process. For organizations, this change has been more complex. Organizations might restructure their system in order to keep in pace with the developments, if necessary. Then, re-altering of the functioning becomes a necessity for health institutions as it is for the other public service organizations. Therefore, with this change of worldview, it is required to review public relations within the scope of structure of health organizations and to address public relations in terms of a more functional pattern.

For health transmission, the most crucial step is to employ public relations experts both at hospitals and in the Health Ministry, and to establish public relations departments and to bring them into action. Studies reveal that either separate public relations department does not exist in hospitals and one of the managers tries to carry out the functions of this department, or the employees dealing with public relations are specialists in different areas, and thus, they do not have scientific excellence in dealing with public relations. This reflects that the significance of public relations is not adequately gripped or the value of public relations is not thoroughly admired. Public relations department is regarded as an information desk, which brings out the idea that anyone else in the organization can perform the task and hence, organizations do not require a separate department for the same. However, there are tasks such as group communication, communication across institutions, communication with the corporate bodies, media relations, relation with the society, public relations, strategic communication, following the environmental factors, crisis management, activity management, and consultation within the public relations department.

In health sector, to establish public relations department is a must for all the organizations. In recent years, it is seen that the Health Ministry has focused on the matter solemnly. Hospitals are still not competently fulfilling in terms of public relations service. At hospitals, to reach the patients and to supply communication of high quality with them on the basis of sympathy and respect, and thus, to build a positive image, are only possible through proper planning and organizing of communication studies.

Another misconception about public relations is regarding the concept of “target community”. For public relations, the target community are the groups who are directly or indirectly related to the organization. In terms of hospitals, target community is only regarded as “patients” in practice; nonetheless, doctors, nurses, the other staff, and all the private and public sectors comes in the range of the target community for the hospitals.

Hence, public relations services are a must to be carried by being in the service for all individuals, groups, and organizations relating with the hospital. The establishment of public relations department or, if there is an existence of a public relation department in the organization, the employment of public relations experts are crucial issues for communication in health sector and crisis management. For example, when a problematic situation shows up because of the surgery or because of any other reason, relating with hospitals remain incapable of managing crisis and media. The most remarkable side of hospitals from public relations point of view is their service providing to all the individuals and classes of society and people of different ages and sexes; in other words, hospitals are the institutions where all the mentioned classes are directly applying. Health problem concerns with male and female, young and old, patient and their visitors, in a nutshell, to all the individuals, and is an important issue demanding its applications to hospitals. Public relations services must be carried everywhere where there is existence of people.

In conclusion, in the words of Peter M. Blau and W. Richard Scott, “each hospital is stated as a public service institution.” Following the statement, “patients, who are the target market of the hospitals, can never be the decision makers on the kind of treatment they will be getting, the quality and the quantity of the treatment and its evaluation”. That is, the patient comes to the hospital to gather information on the disease which is to be treated. While the treatment is in process, both the patient as well as his accompaniers should be instructed well in advance. It is obvious that accompaniers along with the patient must be undergoing some mental trauma. Hence, they are in need for some psychological support. That is, considering that people getting service at hospitals are not healthy, and thus the service to be supplied must be carried out in accordance to it. The other feature of hospitals from the point of public relations is their complicated structure in the hospitals. The intensity in the division of labor along with the pros bring some cons. The division of labor is important for arrangement. In institutions, the maintenance of workflow, the implementation of the modern management techniques, and the organization of departments should provide solutions for the problems raising due to a complicated labor division system. In terms of civil rights, the increases costs of the services at hospitals, the competition between the public sector with private sector, rising awareness of the people on various diseases, demands a concentration of hospitals on the public relations services.