Unified communications (UC) is an integrated communications environment that combines voice, video, SMS, email, and fax communications. Unified communication is not restricted to sending (and/or receiving) a message using different communications mediums. It can also allow an individual to send a message using one communication medium and receive using (the same or) another communication medium. The highly collaborative nature of clinical teams and healthcare professionals makes unified communications an important tool for healthcare organizations.

The capability of communication in the healthcare industry enables it to provide comprehensive services to its patients. Quality, safety, and costs are important factors along with the shortage of staff at hospitals that require tools to provide instant access to crucial information and communications.

Here we have outlined some of the ways in which unified communications can optimize clinical operations or help to improve collaboration among healthcare professionals, staff, patients, and administration.

Improved Staff Collaboration

Staff collaboration can be improved by using Unified Communications. By deploying a message (voice or text) notification system healthcare organizations can increase their collaboration and increase their ability to make decisions in a timely manner. For example, doctors, nurses, and administrative staff can also be alerted of shift changes. Such a system can also be used to improve medical education and training of the staff.

Emergency Notification

A message broadcasting system can be used for emergency environments. Mass broadcasting/communications messages can be sent to personal devices by email, voice call, and SMS to hundreds or even thousands of people so that within minutes everyone who is notified about the message has got the information.

Improved Patient Care

By using Unified Communications, patients and their caretakers can be notified about the checkup schedule, doctor visit timings, and other important information about the patient's health and medication. This can help optimize patient waiting time, coordination between nurses and patients, and patient length of stay at the hospitals. This makes for an improved patient experience as well as optimized utilization of hospital resources.

Ability to Integrate Latest Technology

Staff with tablets can allow sharing the patient information faster. Unified Communications services can be easily integrated with your cloud-based PBX and then other open source tools and applications such as Google Apps to leverage Google Docs sharing.

Unified Communication deployment will improve many processes in healthcare organizations most notably improving patient safety and patient outcomes while reducing costs through efficiency.