Effective Communication

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center was established in 1884. Since then the center grew and undergone many organizational restructures. Today, it is one of the world’s oldest and largest private cancer centers. Patient’s care is a team effort at Memorial Sloan Kettering. It has more than a dozen multidisciplinary cancer care teams. All these teams combine the expertise and experience of numerous specialists to ensure the best possible treatment. Patients are treated by as many different experts as are needed for their particular type of disease, including surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, psychiatrists, and nurses. The organizational model that best describes, MSKCC would be a matrix structure. For example, in coding and billing department we have a manager for compliance with coding procedures, who is responsible for a quality of visits being coded. At the same time, we have another manager, who is responsible for productivity (quantity) of charts being coded. As the matrix definition suggests- MSKCC has a hybrid of a divisional and functional structure. It is a complex and powerful organization, which values their employees and has a steady hand on the pulse of its life.

MSKCC multidisciplinary cancer care teams constantly communicate within and outside the organization. Communication promotes knowledge within a health care organization. Communication and knowledge are necessary for the organization to thrive. Communication is not only important to the staff but also to the patients within a health care facility who depend on staff communication to receive quality medical care. Without complete communication between staff member’s clinical errors can occur and the patient’s health could be at risk. To address and teach the best way possible, MSK has a program “Communication Skills Training and Research Laboratory (Comskil). The focus is to help and educate team members how to communicate in an efficient and compassionate manner with oncology patients and their families. That is one example of many other initiatives and programs MSKCC has.

One of the most effective methods for sharing pertinent information and knowledge is the organizational structure. A formal structure is essential to permit groups within the organization to communicate knowledge with other staff members, teams and other operations of the organization. The functional structure of MSKCC has had excellent rewards with effective use of knowledge, proficiency and education between different types of departments. Each multidisciplinary team shares knowledge works together and has the analytical skills to solve any issue that may arise.

Some communications techniques should be considered and utilized to work efficiently and achieve significant results. Which one is used depends on the situation. For an example, “Face-to-Face” communication technique has the biggest benefit that it’s personal and both ways. If an Assistant Physician talk’s direct with a patient, it’s easier to see signs of a worry, to re-assure him and enhance trust. These nonverbal cues would be missed by sending an email or in the phone conversations.

For sharing a lot of information or for needed material in writing, Email can be effective, another technique for sharing or communicating information. An email allows receiving the information shared within minutes of time for a mass audience and provides information in writing. It can have drawbacks. For example, too many emails can be perceived as overkill and, thus, may be ignored. Also, the tone of an email may be misunderstood by the person reading it, or technology glitches may prevent the email from reaching its intended audience. As with all communications, it is important to be intentional and strategic about the use of mass email. Questions to consider: Why send a mass email? Are there other solutions that might work better? Who are the intended recipients of the email? Are there ways to narrow the audience pool to ensure that only those people who need to know are contacted?