Hospitals need reputation management<\/p>\n
Rudijanto, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
An email sent to a cyber mailing list in the third week of
\nOctober warning all mailing list members about the poor
\ncoordination at a Greater Jakarta-based hospital could have a
\nmore damaging impact on the hospital's reputation once it is
\npublished in print media.<\/p>\n
The email sender claims to be the father of a 17-month-old
\nbaby who was being treated in the hospital for high fever that
\nhad reached 41 degrees C. The email states that on the third day
\nof treatment, the baby almost received antibiotic injections
\ntwice in a time span of merely 30 minutes, while normally the
\nantibiotic injections should have a time span of eight hours.<\/p>\n
\"I rejected the second antibiotic injection and asked the
\nnurse to recheck it. But the nurse left the room and never
\nreturned again. This only proves that she had committed a mistake
\nbecause she was not supposed to inject the antibiotics for a
\nsecond time in a span of 30 minutes,\" wrote the email sender.<\/p>\n
The email sender said he could not imagine the harmful impact
\non the condition of his baby had she received the second
\nantibiotic injection just 30 minutes after the first injection of
\nthe same drug.<\/p>\n
Though not published in any print media, such emails to group
\nmembers can certainly create a negative reputation for a
\nhospital, at least, in the eyes of mailing list members and all
\nthe people they speak with on a normal basis in one of the well-
\ncirculated mailing lists in the Indonesian cyber world.<\/p>\n
If one mailing list member spreads the news to an average of
\ntwo friends and, in turn, these two friends tell their other two
\nfriends, then such mouth-to-mouth news about that hospital can
\nspread among a really significant number of people.<\/p>\n
Indeed any news about malpractice carried out by medical
\ndoctors and hospital staff has a tendency to spread faster and
\nstay longer in people's memory than one can imagine. Both print
\nand electronic media too are quick to cover any malpractice cases
\nat hospitals.<\/p>\n
In addition, letters to the editor section in newspapers and
\nmagazines often publish complaints against hospitals and doctors.
\nThus, one often hears people quote a long misleading perception
\nabout the media, namely any bad news is newsworthy for the media.<\/p>\n
But that misleading perception about the media is not true as
\nthe media also provides space for good news involving medical
\nstaff and hospitals. Nationwide media groups, such as Kompas and
\nMedia Indonesia, often publish great success stories about
\ndifficult operations, such as operations to separate conjoined
\ntwins by local doctors.<\/p>\n
Even provincial media such as Radar Madiun published in mid-
\nOctober some detailed coverage about the achievements of a
\nmedical team of little-known Caruban regional hospital (RSUD
\nCaruban) in conducting a difficult operation to make an anus for
\ntwo-year old girl Atresia Ani, who was born without an anus.<\/p>\n
The newspaper generously wrote that the successful anus
\ninstallment was a big leap forward for RSUD Caruban as normally,
\nonly big hospitals such as Surabaya's RSUP Dr. Soetomo and
\nYogyakarta's RSU Drs. Sardjito would have had the ability to
\nconduct such anus surgery.<\/p>\n
Thus, the problem does not lie in the media, but more on the
\ncommunications aspect of hospitals in Indonesia so that good news
\nis rarely communicated or exposed in the media. However, the
\nopinion that a single piece of bad news can taint hundreds of
\ngood works by hospitals can be true.<\/p>\n
Himawan Wijanarko, General Manager of Strategic Services at
\nthe Jakarta Consulting Group, admits that hospitals often
\ncomplain that there is no news about their good services to a
\nthousand people but, when one patient is disappointed, the media
\nwill make it big news.<\/p>\n
\"This negative news often harms hospitals as it tends to
\ncreate a negative image of the hospital. In the long run, such
\npublication of negative news will create a bad reputation for
\nhospitals in Indonesia,\" Himawan said.<\/p>\n
He believes that the source of this publication of bad news
\nfor hospitals is the growing critical attitude among the people
\ntowards health services in hospitals. As the media enjoys its
\nlong-awaited freedom, this critical attitude finds its outlet in
\nnewspaper and magazine pages.<\/p>\n
Here, Indonesian hospitals need well-planned and well-carried
\nout public relations (PR) programs to manage their reputations.
\nThis PR work has become increasingly significant as present-day
\nhospitals are not just charitable and social institutions just
\nlike the ones in the past, but also profit-oriented businesses.<\/p>\n
Himawan agrees with the shift in the character of hospitals
\nfrom social institutions to profit-oriented business, though he
\nstressed that the term \"profit-oriented\" is often disliked by
\nsome people.<\/p>\n
\"But that is the reality. The environment is really changing
\nand, therefore, the people's expectations are growing high when
\nit comes to hospital services. Certainly, we have to accept the
\nfact that good hospital services require high expenses and
\ninvestment,\" he said.<\/p>\n
For instance, Siloam Health CareGroup that runs the Siloam
\nGleneagles Hospital in Lippo Karawaci, Siloam Gleneagles Hospital
\nin Lippo Cikarang, Siloam Graha Medika Hospital in Jakarta and
\nanother Siloam Gleneagles Hospital in Surabaya have invested a
\nlot to make a number of quality improvement projects.<\/p>\n
Walter Gilmore, CEO of the Siloam HealthCare Group, reveals
\nthat the group has invested some Rp 4.5 billion on new medical
\nequipment for the Siloam Hospital in Cikarang. Earlier this year,
\nthe group installed the latest CT scanner and MRI equipment at
\nthe Siloam Hospital in Lippo Karawaci.<\/p>\n
\"We are now looking at the possibility of setting up a cancer
\ncenter here to provide Indonesian cancer patients with care at
\nworld-class standards. To set up a high quality, comprehensive
\ncare center would cost between US$12 million and US$14 million,
\nmost of which would go on medical equipment,\" Gilmore said.<\/p>\n
Siloam HealthCare Group is clearly not a social and charitable
\nfoundation taking care of sick people for free. Before deciding
\nto make the investment, the group has certainly made a good
\ncalculation on the return on investment and future profit from
\nthe money paid by patients.<\/p>\n
Siloam HealthCare Group is certainly engaged in a tough
\ncompetition in attracting patients with other big hospitals in
\nGreater Jakarta area and even with overseas hospitals such the
\nones in Singapore or Australia.<\/p>\n
In this tough competitive environment, reputations certainly
\nbecome very vital for a hospital's continued operation. That is
\nwhy Himawan stresses that, aside from improving their quality,
\nhospitals have to professionally manage their reputations.<\/p>\n
\"Hospital management groups in Indonesia often have good
\nintentions to boost their service quality but they often forget
\nto properly manage their clients' perception. Without good
\nperception management, the reputation of hospitals in Indonesia
\nis at stake,\" Himawan added.<\/p>\n
To help motivate hospitals, particularly those in Greater
\nJakarta, to improve their quality of services, Himawan reveals
\nthat his company is thinking of carrying out an award program for
\nGreater Jakarta's hospitals some time next year.<\/p>\n
\"Aside from giving hospitals motivation to boost services, the
\naward program also aims at stimulating good publicity on the
\npositive side of hospitals in Jakarta. By doing so, we hope to
\ncreate a good balance in media news pertaining to hospitals
\nhere,\" he said.<\/p>\n
From a public relations point of view, such awards are always
\nuseful as long as they are given by a credible institution,
\npreferably an objective one, and accompanied by good public
\nrelations programs. Indeed, amid tough competition with each
\nother, hospitals need to take up the challenge to manage their
\nreputations.<\/p>",
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