As Internet technology continues to become more affordable, accessible and intuitive—and more powerful, effective and efficient—there’s no mystery for why intranets (private networks that basically look, feel and work like most Internet and World Wide Web applications) are becoming increasingly embraced by hospitals and healthcare systems.
Hospitals with properly designed intranets regularly report a marked improvement in their ability to:
- Increase efficiency
- Unite their workforce
- Promote corporate culture
- Communicate strategic initiatives throughout their organization
Developing an Intranet Strategy for Your Hospital
There’s little debate about the value that an intranet can provide your hospital. The challenge is with identifying the process that best helps a hospital craft an intranet strategy that addresses its goals and delivers the most value.
Of course, like with most communication and marketing technologies, hospitals and healthcare systems don’t always fit the mold for accepted business models.
Here are six best intranet practices for hospitals to consider:
#1: Leveraging Social Media Functionality
By integrating social media tools and other social networking features into hospital and healthcare organization intranets, employees are able to casually—yet productively—connect and engage with hospital leadership, administrators, executives and colleagues through:
- Customized profile pages
- Employee and department blogs and videos
- Online meetings
In addition to connecting with colleagues on an individual basis, hospital and healthcare organizations can foster broader work-related connections, such as:
- Forums for physicians to collaborate ideas on the latest research findings for a particular surgery
- Searches for specific doctors, nurses and administrators that have knowledge in a specialty area
#2: Enhancing Emergency Alerts and Instructions
Being able to use your hospital’s intranet to communicate with employees during an emergency serves as an educational vehicle and an integral part of your hospital’s foundation.
Similar to one of the key benefits of having a
digital signage system at your hospital, using an intranet can be a highly effective means for alerting and advising your hospital employees if an emergency occurs.
Other emergency preparedness features for hospital and healthcare intranet’s can include:
- An instant, pop-up alert (that doesn’t require a page refresh) that links to resource materials
- An emergency operations center to aid in information
- Ready-to-replace homepages specifically created for natural disasters that can be activated in an instant
#3: Integrating Mobile Intranet Connectivity
Along with the recent advances in Internet technology, much of the same can be said about mobile technology.
As with most companies, but especially at hospitals, employees are typically not stationed at an in-office desk with a computer, much less elsewhere in an office setting or with a laptop computer. More likely, they are in far-flung hospital wings or off-site at other medical facilities. An intranet with mobile connectivity radically changes that.
Still, one solution creates new challenges, such as with questions about how to design an intranet that can accommodate mobile devices. Among them:
- Should an app be created?
- Where should data be stored?
- On which platforms should or could it be built?
- Should a small-scale Website be developed?
- How can network speed being taken into consideration?
#4: Enabling Current and Relevant Content Creation
Also a best practice for any effective Website, a hospital’s intranet should provide employees with updated hospital news and information that is:
- Fresh and engaging
- Personalized and catering to different offices or cultures
- Related to your hospital or healthcare organization
Furthermore, hospital intranet news content should be:
- Capable of meeting the needs of the hospital and user
- Equipped for posting and editing
- Well written
On the other side of the content coin, an intranet enables hospital employees to create new and personalized content on hospital intranet homepages—e.g., setting up bookmarks and shortcuts for frequently viewed pages. Providing this capability can help:
- Develop a personal connection to the hospital
- Improve their online experience, encouraging more usage (especially valuable for late-adopters or those that typically resist using online communications)
- Increase their overall efficiency and productivity.
#5: Contrasting Design and Usability
A truly effective hospital or healthcare organization’s intranet will most likely look and function much differently than its public-facing
Internet Website design—primarily because it will have an entirely different set of functions, priorities, users, applications and more.
Although it may seem to duplicate best practices for Internet Website design, it’s still worth considering the following when developing a hospital intranet’s aesthetics and functionality:
- Accessibility for all types of employees
- Clean and simplistic look and feel
- Consistent design
- Easy to read text and links
- Engaging homepage design
- Good use of graphics
Hospital intranets should also adapt a user-friendly design so hospital employees can quickly find the information they are seeking. For example, documents and forms (e.g., doctor referrals, 401(k) contributions) in a centralized location rather than scattered throughout the intranet’s navigation and architecture.
Functionality plays a critical role in intranet design as well. Having a robust intranet search function like a quick search—placed in a strategic, easy to find location—also serves as a quick information finding tool since it cuts through content clutter and is an effective means for functionality. One thing to remember with search tools is that they should be monitored frequently and continually be updated to achieve the best search results.
#6: Drafting and Enforcing Intranet Governance
Prior to launching an intranet—or even designing and building it—it’s critical to have thoughtful intranet governance that clearly outlines procedure, leadership, etc.
Once a governance is established, the next step is to enlist in an appropriate team of tech-savvy individuals (e.g., intranet experts, programmers, designers) and a diverse selection of personnel from other departments (e.g., executive leadership, marketing) that combine their skills to include technology, usability, design, writing, editing and management.
Building the team is the easy part; the challenge will be with balancing the power between the two groups that may have different priorities and perspectives about leadership. However, with governance that is universally understood and accepted by all participants, the potential for a hospital intranet can be virtually unlimited.
AVID Design is an award-winning online healthcare marketing consultant, specializing in integrated Websites, intranets, social media and content creation and strategy.
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