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There are multiple methods of communication utilized internally by Delta Health. One approach is email. This is used for daily, weekly, and monthly communication. Department managers forward a summary of meetings with administration to their individual departments using an email format. The marketing team sends out a weekly communication with a brief overview of happenings within the organization. Another method is in person meetings. Department managers routinely hold staff meetings to keep their department up to date on events, changes, projects, etc. within the organization. The administrative team within the last year has started having all-staff meetings on a quarterly basis, these meetings review the budget, goals for the coming months, and survey results; to increase attendance at these meetings there are several drawings for additional hours of paid time off. Delta Health has a monthly employee newsletter that highlights events, includes educational material, employee benefits, new employees, highlights departments that have reached a target measure, and lots more! The employee newsletter is sent out to all employees via email, it is also accessible on the intranet, and is distributed in print to all the organization’s departments (Delta Health, 2020).

External communication utilizes social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. The organization’s website is updated regularly with any pertinent information, recently this has been listing the status of the mask mandate. Some communication is completed using the postal service and all the outpatient clinics use text messaging communication for those who have opted to enroll. A patient portal is available for both hospital testing and outpatient visits that allows patients to review visit notes, recent results, and communicate with their doctor. Additionally, all the outpatient clinics and the hospital itself have large monitors in the waiting areas that review changes, events, and services (Delta Health, 2020).

The biggest issues I have noticed in this organization are the number of employees that do not check their email and the number of outpatient clinics who function separate from the main campus; the all-staff meetings are held on the main campus and unintentionally exclude the participation of many clinics. The staff at the clinics is invited but due to workloads attendance is scarce for these staff members. This has led to a culture of each clinic functioning almost as a separate entity. When considering the external stakeholders, many of the elderly population do not use social media or access the website. Delta county has an above average number of retirees and exploring options outside technology is important to consider.

An approach that includes multiple forms of communication is wise and reaches a larger number of internal and external stakeholders. Many employees do not check their email so implementing a policy to allow employees to clock in 10 minutes early specifically to read and respond to their email would allow time for employees to receive the needed communication without impacting their workload and the demands of their shift. Increasing communication uniformly throughout all the departments, including departments who do not exist on the main campus, and distributing information helps to alleviate anxiety and addresses rumors that may or may not be valid and nurtures a culture that is cohesive and resilient (Wu et al., 2020). Increasing visibility in the community and expanding the communication efforts to include more remote regions of the county through main street banners and posters in highly visible locations, such as at grocery stores and pharmacies, reaches a wider population (Wu et al., 2020).