The COVID-19 crisis required clear communication more than ever. Information and instructions changed rapidly. How do you ensure that patients and (healthcare) professionals still understand what is happening and what is required of them? Clear visual communication helped. It provided an overview and prevented questions so that the valuable time of care professionals could be spent on primary care.
Panton has helped various (care) institutions with their communication challenges during this period. Below are some striking examples. Read below which lessons about (visual) communication were more important than ever. lessen over (visuele) communicatie.
Clear care path for patient and relatives
Patients who were admitted with a corona infection; and their relatives; had many questions about what lied ahead. At the Maasstad Hospital, nurses spent a lot of time answering these questions. They lacked tools to properly explain the steps and phases of the treatment to all patient groups.
Together with the employees of Maasstad Hospital, we developed an infographic that explained the process of COVID care and the rules of conduct in the hospital with pictures. A second infographic could be used to discuss the process of passing away, if it became clear that there is no chance of recovery.
Implementation of home monitoring
The Antonius Zorggroep offered COVID patients the possibility of being monitored at home after their admission. This allowed COVID patients to go home earlier.
In this new process, which had to be implemented in a short period of time, it was important that the care workers involved knew what is happening in each step and who was responsible for it. This visual explained this clearly.
The Antonius Care Group used this visual to train the specialists, nurses and GPs involved in the implementation of this new process.
Functioning of the crisis stock of IC medication
The Covid Crisis Stock (CCV) prevented shortages of crucial medication in the Intensive Care departments of Dutch hospitals. There was a lack of clarity about the functioning of the crisis stock among different stakeholders such as hospitals, suppliers and governmental bodies.
This visual not only provided clarity, but also a common starting point for constructive discussion and decision-making. This visual was commissioned by the Landelijk Coordinatiecentrum Geneesmiddelen (National Medicines Coordination Center, part of the NVZA).
Patient logistics visualised
In the first days of the covid outbreak in the Netherlands, hospitals were confronted with large groups of patients. In the province of Noord-Brabant, the hospitals rapidly went through the escalation stages green (ICU at usual level), orange (some planned operations postponed) and red (all non-urgent operations cancelled). Together with the Radboudumc and the Amphia, a Medical Metro Line was developed which maps out which patient should go to which department.
3 lessons in visual communication
Visual communication is a powerful tool for making complex information easier to understand. Especially for people with low language skills. During the COVID-19 crisis, the lessons listed below had major impact on the success of communication.
- Communicate simply in language and images (and dare to choose what you do and do not communicate).
- Do not communicate too much at once, but offer the information when it is relevant.
- Be consistent and avoid clutter. Make sure that information provided through different channels is in line with each other.
