Crisis management is equally as stressful as it is enlightening for public relations professionals. When it comes to health care clients, crisis management becomes particularly difficult as decisions can literally become a matter of life or death.
DEVENEY, a Worldcom partner, knows a thing or two about the challenges of implementing a successful crisis response for health care clients. Although crisis communication teams are tasked with responding quickly and addressing challenges as they unfold, there are several best practices our partner recommends to ease some of the stress include:
Use Executive Summaries
Time becomes the most valuable resource during crisis, so communication teams should initially provide only an executive summary of traditional and social media monitoring to clients, then provide backup if further investigation is necessary.
No updates? Respond anyway
Setting morning and afternoon check-ins will give your clients a much-needed sense of security. Whether you have an update or not, consistent correspondence will offer some degree of stability for your client and take at least one worry off their minds.
Be conscious of privacy laws
While transparency is often valued in crisis situations, health care crisis situations are unique because there are laws surrounding patient privacy that must be protected. This means that responses to reporters may have to be a bit more cautious or ambiguous. The emphasis in these responses should be a commitment to protecting the rights of the patients and, more importantly, the general public.
In addition to these three tips, DEVENEY offers three more best practices for ways to successful respond to a health care crisis. Visit the DEVENEY blog to gain more of their insight on providing the best strategy for your client. You can also find additional Healthcare PR Insights from our partners.
DEVENEY of New Orleans is an internationally renowned engagement agency with over 20 years of experience creating and implementing award-winning, strategic marketing solutions. Driven by results, DEVENEY uses research to create campaigns that open the dialogue between brands and their key stakeholders.
