Current Trends in Business Communication

Technology advancements over the recent years have made communication possible in different ways. Communication in the business world today can range anywhere from e-mails, personal digital assistants, text messaging, instant messaging, and through the use of web-cams, just to name a few. These different communication tools allow employees to communicate both internally and externally in a timely and more efficient manner. The current trends in communication within the healthcare industry make it easier for health care professionals to perform their daily tasks, and provide patients with more quality care. The Role of Business Communication in My Workplace Communication is extremely important in my line of work as a nurse. Without good effective communication skills between the various healthcare professionals involved in a patients care and between the healthcare professionals and the patient, the quality of care would or could be grossly impacted. As a nurse, communication takes place in many different forms, whether it is through notes, e-mail, phone, Internet, software used by the facility, or face-to-face communication. Typical internal day-to-day communication activities in my job include checking my work list on the software application that the healthcare facilities use to communicate between the chains of healthcare facilities within the region. The work list may have orders from the doctor to perform certain tasks such as phoning in a prescription to the pharmacy or updating a medication list for a patient. Another type of internal communication that takes place in my day-to-day activities besides oral communication, software communication, and phone communication, is written communication through the use of text messaging. There are times when the doctor will be out of the office and unable to talk directly to a patient or myself and will instead send text messages to my cell phone. Text messaging is not necessarily a daily occurrence but is used regularly. External day-to-day communication that my job requires me to use may include verbal or oral communication with patients either by the use of phone or face-to-face. It is also common to send written material with the patients or to the patients at their home address. Communication with pharmaceutical representatives via e-mail is also common. There may be questions about medications for example, which are not emergent and completely acceptable to send via e-mail to the representative. Text messaging is not an acceptable means of external communication and is never used. The use of the Internet and software has a huge impact on my ability to perform daily activities in a timely manner. Without the ease of communicating electronically simple activities could take could take much more time to complete. Current software has made it easy to re-order prescriptions for patients by just looking up a patient and renewing past prescriptions and sending them to the specific pharmacy that they use. This makes it not only easier for the doctor and the nurse but also for the pharmacist. Also there are times when it is necessary to get ahold of the doctor who could be in a meeting through the use of text messages. This allows important questions to be answered right away instead waiting until the meeting is over. Trends within the Healthcare Industry. Technology has had a big impact in the healthcare industry. My workplace will be going paperless in September of this year. Doctors are preparing for this by making sure that all patient information listed in patient charts such as medication lists and diagnoses’ are put into the system. All internal communication between different facilities will be done through the use of software or by phone. No patient results will be sent through fax or through mail. According to LexisNexis, â€Å"Obama sees the investment in electronic records as a way to improve quality and lower costs. Different Message Types Resulting From Current Trends According to Articlesbase (n. d. ), â€Å"The different message types that result from these current trends are either personal or impersonal. † The different message types resulting from these current communication trends are in the form of e-mails, text messaging, various software, Internet communicatio n, face-to-face video conferencing, instant messaging, and social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook. Conclusion The current trends in business communication have been greatly influenced by the advancements in technology. The Internet, cell phones, MP3 players, personal digital assistants, social networking sites, and video conferencing among others, has allowed business communication to take place in many forms and from all over the world with ease. These current trends have made it easier for healthcare professionals to communicate more efficiently internally and externally and allow day-to-day activities to get accomplished more quickly than in the past. References: Articlesbase.  (n.d.).  Business Communication: Business Trends and Message Types.  Retrieved from http://www.articlesbase.com/networking-articles/business-communication-business- -trends-and-message-types-4133734.html ASQ.  (n.d.).  Going Paperless Pays Off for Healthcare Industry .  Retrieved from http://asq.org/qualitynews/qnt/execute/displaySetup?newsID=5661