Module 1 – Prevention and preparedness | Communications
Emergencies and disasters will often affect the ways in which you communicate with team members, patients and all other external services. It’s vital to have tested communication contingency plans in place to ensure you can contact who you need to, when you need to.
Communicating with your practice team
Decide upon tools and strategies to maintain communication between your team and ensure everyone stays informed.
As an example, setting up a group message, otherwise known as a ‘group chat’, using a smartphone app of your choice (i.e., Messenger app, WhatsApp, Slack) can be a fast and helpful way to deliver and receive short messages, keeping all team members informed at the same time. You could also use email to communicate amongst your team, which can be a particularly helpful tool when relaying more detailed or lengthy information.
Some practices rely on a ‘communication tree’ approach when they need to share information quickly to large group of people. This involves a small group of people who each contact a small, prearranged group of people who then each contact the next prearranged group. As with any communications strategy, contingency plan needs to be in place so that if certain people become unavailable to relay information, the communication tree still flows.
Using, or preparing to use, more than one type of communication channel will help to avoid communication barriers should your main channel become unusable. Take inspiration from advice found under ‘Inbound and outbound communications’ when developing your team communications plan.
Communicating with patients
Be aware that practices can become overwhelmed with patient contact during an emergency or disaster. You may experience a sudden increase in phone calls, emails and patients physically presenting at your practice without prior notice.
You can prepare by developing a patient communications policy to guide the triage and management of an unusually high number of patient communications. As part of your policy, detail how you plan on getting essential information to patients without, in the first instance, requiring them to speak with your team or enter the practice. This step is key in helping to manage practice overwhelm.
Common methods of communicating with patients include:
- using posters and signage at entryways and around the practice,
- placing fact sheets around your practice’s waiting area,
- sending text messages, emails or newsletters to patients directly,
- updating the practice’s website regularly (or as required) to include important updates,
- Updating your social media accounts,
- Updating your Healthdirect account to reflect updated operational capacity and opening hours, and
- recording a telephone holding message.
Examples of what you may wish to communicate to your patients includes:
- disease symptoms (if relevant),
- specific triage arrangements you would like your patients to adhere to,
- where patients can seek help if your practice is unavailable or overwhelmed with presentations,
- practice entry requirements (i.e., wearing face masks or accessing the practice via a certain entrance),
- any relevant information about the event (noting that if the event at hand is an emergency or disaster affecting more than your practice alone, this should ideally be done by directing people to a reliable source of truth such as your state government's website where they can also find relevant information such as evacuation centre locations),
- your practice's opening hours, and
- any other changes in your practice’s mode of operation.
Take action
- Consider developing some basic, easily amendable templates to communicate information to your patients. For example, you may wish to create a document to communicate changes in your opening hours. While you do not currently know what your opening hours will be during or after and event, you can prepare a template that is easy to fill out should it be needed. An example of what this may look like can be found below.
- Make a note in your emergency response plan detailing where any pre-prepared templates can be accessed.
Example:
Due to [insert brief event description], our opening hours have temporarily changed.
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
If you require assistance outside of these hours, please contact [insert contact information]. [Insert any further brief information relevant to your practice and location].
During a crisis, emergency or disaster, the volume of incoming telephone or electronic communication might increase. It is important that your practice, as part of your emergency response plan, develop and maintain a communication policy to appropriately triage and manage communication to patients and clinical team members during this time.
Communicating with key external contacts
During an event, it may be helpful for practice team members who have varying rosters or shifts to record and track communications with external stakeholders. This record can be kept at your reception desk for visible access or, alternatively, with your communications officer.
Take action
- Decide upon a method in which you will record and track communications with external stakeholders during an emergency. An example method can be found below.
- Make a note in the emergency response plan detailing how team members can access and add information to your external contact communications record.
Example:
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Communications with external contacts record
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Date
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Team member
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Organisation/name
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Comments
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Inbound and outbound communications
Disasters can affect your communication systems in different ways, depending on the type of emergency and your practice’s set up.
Typically, corded landline phones will continue to work throughout a power outage, while wireless landline phones may be disabled. Additionally, it should be noted that you may not be able to physically access any type of landline phones in certain emergency scenarios due to their lack of portability.
Mobile phones are more likely to be useful in emergencies due to their size, portability and versatility in terms of multifunction (i.e. most mobile smartphones can be used to make phone calls, send text messages, access the internet, apps and more). However, mobile phone towers and networks may be affected or overwhelmed during an event. Mobile phone batteries must also remain charged.
Tip: Mobile networks during an event will be affected differently depending on the network provider (i.e., Telstra, Optus). Consider organising alternate SIM cards for key emergency practice team members so that if their usual network is down or congested, they can switch to a different, operational network.
If you are in an emergency situation, require help and do not have access to mobile or landline phones, you can:
- Use a satellite phone to send and receive calls, send short text messages, or send an SOS.
- Use a satellite personal location beacon (PLB) to send out a distress signal to emergency services with your exact location.
Satellite phones and location beacons work by connecting to telecommunication satellites in space. They do not rely on standard mobile phone towers, meaning that connectivity won’t be affected by terrestrial emergencies or disasters.
PLBs can be bought at various camping and electronics shops. Satellite phones can be purchased at some mobile phone providers and specialist shops. There are also apps available that can be downloaded onto most standard smart mobile phones, as well as hardware that can be purchased, to convert your phone to a satellite phone.
Communication via the internet may also be impacted during an emergency or disaster, due to circumstances such as network or power outages (noting that your practice’s internet provider can tell you how a power outage might affect your internet connection).
If your practice is using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, consider what type of impact a network or power outage may have on your ability to communicate.
To mitigate the effects of internet issues, your practice may consider investing in an alternative internet connection to ensure ongoing access to the internet during a disaster. Alternative options include (but are not limited to):
Mobile data devices
Mobile data devices offer wireless internet connection via a mobile network, as opposed to a standard landline, cable or NBN network. They allow you to connect your Wi-Fi enabled devices to the internet.
Examples of mobile data devices include:
- Internet dongles: Dongles are small, portable modems that plug into the USB port of the device you’re wanting to use, allowing you to access your provider’s mobile data network.
- Satellite dongles: Satellite dongles allow you to send text messages via satellite networks.
- Mobile modems: These gadgets act as a combination of a router and a modem, meaning that they can connect several devices to a data network at once. Their batteries can last for a few hours, and they do not need to be plugged in to any of your devices to work.
Satellite Wi-Fi hotspot devices
Satellite internet connection devices can be purchased to connect your devices to satellite Wi-Fi internet. Being connected to satellite internet allows you to stay online and keep essential systems functioning, even when there is an internet network outage in your area.
Contact your practice’s internet provider to discuss alternative internet connectivity options. Note that not all internet providers will be able to offer effective alternative solutions, and so you may need to reach out to other providers to find what works best for your practice. Your IT contact should be able to assist you in seeking alternative internet solutions.
If you do experience issues with your internet connection during an event, programs and information that rely on having a stable connection such as pathology and radiology reports, patient discharge summaries and My Health Records may be affected.
To ensure the continuation of services, keep hard copies of essential information (i.e., important phone numbers, patient appointment details, resources relating to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and prepare alternatives ways in which you can conduct your business matters. This may include preparing for cash transactions and manual credit card/Medicare card machines which could be stored in the practice’s emergency kit.
When other communication lines are down, battery-powered radios will allow you to receive important information regarding the event at hand. Equip your emergency kit with a battery-powered radio and a supply of batteries.
Tune into your for up-to-date information regarding emergencies affecting your area.
Take action
- Create a contingency plan detailing how your team will continue to communicate with each other and with patients during an emergency. Use the information found within this section to help guide your plan’s development.
- Include your communications contingency plan in your emergency response plan. An example of what this may look like can be found below.
- Consider printing hard copies of your communications contingency plan to display in convenient locations, including at reception and within your emergency kit.
Example:
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Communications contingency plan
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Risk
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Response
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Further details
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[e.g. practice phone becomes unavailable]
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