Unit 16: Managing Communications, Knowledge and Information

ContentsTask 131.1 Discuss the range of decisions to be taken31.2 Examine the information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision taking51.3 Assess internal and external sources of information and understanding51.4 Justify recommendations for improvement6Task 262.1 Identify stakeholders for a decision-making process62.2 Make contact with those identified and develop business relationships72.3 Involve those identified in the decision making as appropriate82.4 Design strategies for improvement10Task 3113.1 Report on existing processes of communication in an organization113.2 Design ways to improve appropriateness113.3 Implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of communication in that organisation123.4 Create a personal plan to improve own communication skills12Relevant communication skill12Strengths in the communication skill13Reflective Summary13Task 4144.1 Report on existing approaches to the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge144.2 Carry out appropriate changes to improve the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge144.3 Implement a strategy to improve access to systems of information and knowledge.15References16

Task 11.1 Discuss the range of decisions to be taken NHS England has defined plan to help improve public health, however, their attempts are not free from limitation. It has been mentioned that NHS values communication and information sharing system and believes that sharing accurate information will result in adequate participation of respective departments and external assistance from stakeholders to help provide seamless health care services. Therefore as per NHS decision making is not an individual approach, but a collective effort, that will include every important individual and respective social departments, stakeholders to ensure adequate healthcare assistance. In the present scenario, it has been identified that thinkers in England are debating over the issue of privatization of NHS(Nhs.uk, 2015). Some are arguing that the privatization would improve services others are unsure of such a thought as there are problems in the system such as waiting issue and hospital and unit closure.NHS waiting times is a serious issue which is becoming worse with time. Countless patients are waiting for treatment. According to the Health Secretary, they have decided on ordering about 100,000 extra treatment as well as operation to be carried out within the summer and the expense would be 250m. the decision that were taken by the Health Secretary as mentioned above is further emphasized with the suggestion of cussing on those patients who have been waiting for a long period(BBC News, 2013).Thus after evaluating the report of the waiting times, range of decisions that could be taken to handle the problem of waiting times, which often lead to prolong waiting for treatment. Firstly to focus on those patients who have been waiting for too long, secondly give priority to age and intensity of the patient condition, for example, a cancer patient who is two year old should be given priority along with a 74 year old bone injury patient. In both the situation the patients need immediate attention, a cancer patient have limited scope for survival if not attended within time period similarly a senior citizen may not live long for the treatment if not attended immediately(http://www.calderdaleccg.nhs.uk/, 2013). Hence, based on the situation the decision should be taken after discussing with the doctor and the patient. Thirdly, health care assisting system should be streamlined so that patients no longer have to wait endlessly for treatment. The present scenario is threatening where an ill person suffers more while waiting, since the treatment is not provided(Thompson, 2003). Hence arrangements should be made for immediate attention, first and required treatment and the entire health care process should be more organized and systematic. Communication is important in the patient care. it is essential to maintain clear communication with the patient so that he knows the problem and is clear about the treatment procedure (Thomas, 2006). Apt data management, information system handling and organizing the system will help in adequate decision needed to be taken for overcoming the waiting issue and enjoying treatment.

1.2 Examine the information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision taking NHS England belongs to people, they believe in putting the need of the patients first. Hence in order to handle the waiting issue, it could be mentioned that to offer need based services it is essential to be equipped with adequate information and knowledge management system so as to ensure effective decision making. Irrespective of the nature of the disease or condition, it is difficult for the patient to avail right treatment if the communication system is ineffective within the NHS management (BBC News, 2013). It is essential to mange the data, patient information, statistical information properly. The patient records should be properly stored and filed so that it could be browsed if and when necessary. Secondly, maintain only patient information will be futile without maintaining appropriate communication with the respective health care institute and the doctor. It is a joint system, when each department plays a key role. For offering adequate health care system, it is essential to maintain clear communication and share of information amidst the doctor, respective department and the patient so that the much needed treatment could b easily offered. As far as the waiting issue is concerned, the patient should be aware of his condition, the health care institution should maintain information of the appointment given for treatment and communicate it properly to the respective department, so that when the time comes the patient could easily visit the doctor and get treatment. The doctor needs to go through the previous reports, data about earlier findings and must possess necessary equipments for treatment (Berglund and Saltman, 2002). Hence, the information and knowledge sharing should be adequate and it is the effectiveness of the system which ensures required decision making, as if the doctor does not have the patient details properly, he would never understand which treatment should be given, similarly if the patient does not have the information he would miss the date of visit and similarly the hospital will not be able to attend the patient. Thus effective information management is essential for proper decision making (DAgostino and Bylund, 2013).1.3 Assess internal and external sources of information and understanding Decision making is difficult without including the stakeholders. According to the report published on High quality care or all, it is essential to involve patients in the decision making is essential. Internally, clinicians alone may not be able to help by offering treatment, it is essential to involve patients as his support and comfort are essential while offering treatment. Thus decision is needed to taken in partnership and not alone by the clinicians. As far as the present scenario is concerned, the patient should possess complete clinical information. He should know the various options available for treatment and could go through the options available for the respective treatment(Darley, 2002). Thus including the clinicians, management and patient at the internal level will help in taking the finest route which suits perfectly suits the demand of the condition of the patient. At the external level the information of various health care institutions, clinicians and medication along with the financial support which could be expected from the government or the health care insurance also plays a key role in the decision. Depending on the available resources, the patient could take a proper decision about his treatment(Davis, 2014).1.4 Justify recommendations for improvementRecommendation of improvement in the waiting issue, such as information sharing, stakeholder involvement, data sharing, knowledge of resource availability are key to offering enhanced clinical services. Thus involving both internal and external stakeholders in the decision making on patient treatment will ensure that the patient receives adequate health care facility and lives comfortably (Moss and Moss, 2012).Task 22.1 Identify stakeholders for a decision-making processAs a public service unit it is essential for NHS to understand that the participation of stakeholders is important in the decision making process as they are affected by the decisions and taken by the system. Stakeholder engagement is essential in the NHS and especially in the issue decision making in the waiting problem. Most organizations believe that stakeholder engagement is not limited to providing a list of options to the patient, but also help in identifying the need, opinion and shape options (Stavans, 2010).Stakeholders in decision making process, Stakeholders are people who have a stake in a situation (Thomas, 2006). The internal stakeholders in the healthcare organizations are the employees as well as the management and the external stakeholders include, customers, suppliers, competitors, etcIn the given issues the internal stakeholders who are expected to participate in the decision making process are the Director of Public Health, Procurement, Head of the Health Intelligence and Information, Director of Nursing, Board committee members, Public Health Strategies, Trustees, Public health management Analyst, Research Scientist and the employees and the management(Smith, 2014).The External Stakeholders are Local Authority, Acute trusts, Patients, Customers, Service user, Supplier, Fund provider, Special Interest group, Health visitors, Wider public workforce, Quality assessors.

2.2 Make contact with those identified and develop business relationships

NHS could contact with the stakeholder and experience impact on the organizational policy, strategy as well as on various projects as per the relationship with the organization and the various issues concerned(Nhs.uk, 2015). NHS England can make contact with their internal and external stakeholders by following the simple planning model.

Figure 1: Stakeholder Planning ModelSource: (http://www.calderdaleccg.nhs.uk/, 2013)Internal stakeholders may be engaged or contacted by sharing knowledge and information. Interest of the stakeholder both internal and external should be given priority and sharing of information is an essential aspect of the decision making process. The process is channelized under a defined system, called Shared Decision making, where information are collected then reviewed and available treatment options are judged before finalizing (Berglund and Saltman, 2002).

2.3 Involve those identified in the decision making as appropriate

Figure 2: Engagement frameworkSource: (http://www.calderdaleccg.nhs.uk/, 2013) As per the above mentioned framework both patients as well as the communities shall be engaged in the process of decision making. The process is different but the approach is necessary.

Figure 3: Key drivers in the Stakeholder policySource: (http://www.calderdaleccg.nhs.uk/, 2013)

Thus communication is essential in the selected process. Communication, both inter and intra level is essential for engaging the stakeholders in the given situation of assisting in the decision making process (DAgostino and Bylund, 2013).

2.4 Design strategies for improvement

Figure 4: Strategy for improvementSource: (Moss and Moss, 2012, Pg 34)A well defined strategy always helps in offering immense scope for improvement and value addition to the services. In order involve stakeholders in the decision making process and ensure adequate communication, the mentioned steps in the particular strategy will be helpful, Proposal, Discussion, Service Designing, Assurance, Consultation, Decision and Implementation. To begin with it is essential to involve the stakeholders both internal and external in the decision making process by providing the proposal for involvement (Darley, 2002). This would followed by the discussion session where every individual will get scope of giving opinion on the given topic, finally the service designing and consultation will be considered before conceiving the decision and implementing the decision taken.

Task 33.1 Report on existing processes of communication in an organization

After working as an Assistant Nurse with the independent health care provider, Care UK, I have evaluated the effectiveness and unique approach of the communication system of the organization. There are different types of communication process, verbal, non-verbal and written or mixed methods selected as per the need of the situation (Careuk.com, 2015). Between internal stakeholders: with the management and employees the Care UK team maintain an open communication system. The employees have complete knowledge about the conditions of the patient and required treatment to be provided. Besides this the management also discusses issues with the staff before modifying thoughts (Thompson, 2003). The transparent approach and scope of maintaining free one or communication helps in clear interaction with the patient and understanding their specific need.

Between the external stakeholders: with the organization and its customers or patients the organization maintains absolute clarity in message exchanging. It provided information about the facilities and services clearly on the interne page. Hence, if anyone looking for the types of services provided, will immediately know the choices offered by the organization (DAgostino and Bylund, 2013). Secondly, the patients get complete information about the detail of their disease, possible treatment and scopes for availing the treatment. Besides this the waiting list is provided clearly so that an individual has complete knowledge of his waiting time.3.2 Design ways to improve appropriateness In order to offer better services, since the Care UK offers services to those in search of Care homes or in search of NHS Health care services, Care support at home or disabled care, the communication plan needs to be developed accordingly. General analysis on the organizations communication approach informs that it has incorporated a linear and a two way communication system(Smith, 2014). Though the system is effective and helped in maintaining adequate relationship with the customers, yet in the present scenario it is essential to introduce technical innovation and incorporate software based knowledge management system. The online system helps in accessing the data from anywhere and at anytime. It helps in reducing paper work and streamlines the chaotic system of documentation. Every, information is controlled by the master system and any one could access to relevant data as and when required. The data may be updated, referred or checked easily (Davis, 2014). Thus the online knowledge management system will help in improving services by streamlining data and necessary information about the care seeker.3.3 Implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of communication in that organizationThe software based system help in saving time and ensures accessing to relevant information. The data regarding a patient is stored in the system, which could be accessed by clinicians, doctor, nurses and even by the family members. The information about the treatment process help in understanding the progress of the treatment and healing. Any care provider could check the detail and provide medication or help at the time of need (Amine Chatti, 2012). Besides this, if and when there is a need for operation, the collated data could be accessed by the nurses in the OT and the relevant arrangements could be made without any hassle. No need to communicate about the requirements or ask for details, any and every department could collect information from the master system and work smoothly. Thus the IT system will help in saving time and energy and ensure patient safety and quality treatment (Lam and Chua, 2009). 3.4 Create a personal plan to improve own communication skillsRelevant communication skillThe social care home ensures holistic development of the individual. Hence the communication plan will include the following steps, to ensure proper assistance to the old aged care seekers.The four key skills needed for an Assistant Nurse, under verbal, non-verbal and written communication are; Verbal ability to communicate with patients and the family members of the patients fluently, convincing ability and offering psychological support (Offsey, 1997).Non verbal care provider or the Assistant nurse should have complete knowledge of communicating through gestures, eye contact, and body language with handicapped patient who are unable to speak or hear (DAgostino and Bylund, 2013).Written communication this is essential for data management and maintaining online communication or handle knowledge management system. The data or information about the patient needed to store in the IT system. The Nurse should have complete knowledge of handling computer, software data entry and information management (Thomas, 2006).Strengths in the communication skillAs an Assistant nurse in the Care UK, I have complete knowledge of adequate verbal and non verbal communication. Patient care is priority, hence I handle patients with care and offer them absolute comfort. Understand their gestures to help then in pain or problems when they are unable to voice the issues. Besides these handling disabled children for holistic development is processed through non verbal communication (Darley, 2002). Apart from helping patients I have thorough knowledge in handling IT system and therefore could easily enter all required information in the system and access them as and when necessary.Two weaknesses in the communication skill are approaching the old at the care home and handling mental patient. It is difficult to understand the expectation of senior citizens and especially those with mental problems. Hence I would have to improve on understanding the need of mental patient and then help them accordingly (Lam and Chua, 2009). Two SMART (Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and Time) objectives that could help me improve my communication skill areSpecific improve communicating with mental patientTime learn within three months timeReflective SummaryAfter evaluating the skill development plan it may be mentioned that as an Assistant Nurse, the knowledge of verbal, non verbal and written communication is highly essential while working in a care home. Patients are old, disabled or looking for NHS help. In short there are different types of patient need which are to be addressed on daily basis. Hence, having complete knowledge of communication, right use of gesture and adequate knowledge of information technology will help in offering the desired care services and ensure career growth in the specific domain.Task 44.1 Report on existing approaches to the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledgeThe information management system helps in apt data storing, collating, referring and retrieving ability to use information as needed. Every IT firm helps with specific data management software (Offsey, 1997). The common data management or information storage system are Access, MySQL,. However the most effective and widely used is the knowledge management system. According to James Robertson (2007) goes as far as to argue that organizations should not even think in terms of knowledge management systems. He argues that KM, though enhanced by technology, is not a technology discipline, and thinking in terms of knowledge management systems leads to expectations of "silver bullet" solutions. Instead, the focus should be determining the functionality of the IT systems that are required for the specific activities and initiatives within the firm.However in the college it has been evaluated that generally the data is stored in the Microsoft word files and HTML files. Most documents are stored in paper format and rarely in the IT system. Only important students details are stored in the Matrix software, but other information are stored in Microsoft Excel or Word document(Lam and Chua, 2009).4.2 Carry out appropriate changes to improve the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledgeAfter auditing the data storing system of the respective college it could be mentioned that developing new software for the students in the specific college will be helpful. Matrix is adequate for student information management and Excel is perfect for handling the financial transaction and preparing journal ledger, but Word is not always helpful for documenting other details. Word is fine for students while writing and formatting notes or assignment work, but not effective for official purpose (Moss and Moss, 2012). Hence, it is essential to develop a specific system for the collecting, formatting, storing and sharing information and knowledge from a single system. Therefore using the virtual storage space for data storing is suggested as it will protect data from loosing or hacking. Secondly it could be used from any server, thirdly it is economic (Stavans, 2010). Therefore developing a proper student friendly non complicated software will be helpful in the present scenario.4.3 Implement a strategy to improve access to systems of information and knowledge.

Strategy for improving access to the information and knowledge

Figure 5 : Process of improving access to the system of information and knowledgeSource: (Amine Chatti, 2012, Pg 67)

The above mentioned process will help in improving access to the required information and data which are to be handled by the students and the college management for improving services and knowledge management (Davis, 2014).

ReferencesAmine Chatti, M. (2012). Knowledge management: a personal knowledge network perspective. Journal of Knowledge Management, 16(5), pp.829-844.BBC News, (2013). Changing NHS: In graphics. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-19674838 [Accessed 20 Mar. 2015].Berglund, C. and Saltman, D. (2002). Communication for health care. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.Bhatia, V., Hernandez, P. and Perez-Paredes, P. (2011). Researching specialized languages. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co.Careuk.com, (2015). Care UK | Healthcare, Social Care & Care Home Provider | Find Out More.... [online] Available at: http://www.careuk.com/ [Accessed 20 Mar. 2015].DAgostino, T. and Bylund, C. (2013). Nonverbal Accommodation in Health Care Communication. Health Communication, 29(6), pp.563-573.Darley, M. (2002). Managing communication in health care. Edinburgh: Balliere Tindall in association with RCN.Davis, K. (2014). Electronically mediated communication. Primary Health Care, 24(10), pp.18-18.http://www.calderdaleccg.nhs.uk/, (2013). NHS Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group Communications and Engagement Strategy 2012-2013. [online] Available at: http://www.calderdaleccg.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Calderdale-CCG-comms-and-engagement-strategy.pdf [Accessed 20 Mar. 2015].Hussi, T. (2004). Reconfiguring knowledge management combining intellectual capital, intangible assets and knowledge creation. Journal of Knowledge Management, 8(2), pp.36-52.Lam, W. and Chua, A. (2009). Knowledge outsourcing: an alternative strategy for knowledge management. Journal of Knowledge Management, 13(3), pp.28-43.Lisa Sparks Bethea Anne L. Balazs, (1997). Improving Intergenerational Health Care Communication. Journal of Health Communication, 2(2), pp.129-137.Moss, B. and Moss, B. (2012). Communication skills in health and social care. London: SAGE.Nhs.uk, (2015). Guide to NHS waiting times - Patient choice - NHS Choices. [online] Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/choiceinthenhs/rightsandpledges/waitingtimes/pages/guide%20to%20waiting%20times.aspx [Accessed 20 Mar. 2015].Offsey, S. (1997). Knowledge Management: Linking People to Knowledge for Bottom Line Results. Journal of Knowledge Management, 1(2), pp.113-122.Smith, R. (2014). Waiting times in NHS at worst for six years. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11018642/Waiting-times-in-NHS-at-worst-for-six-years.html [Accessed 20 Mar. 2015].Stavans, I. (2010). Health care. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood.Thomas, R. (2006). Health communication. New York, NY, USA: Springer.Thompson, T. (2003). Handbook of health communication. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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