COMMUNICATION

Communication in the Planning Process

Communication in the Planning Process

Communication with others is the means through which evaluation occurs through which it is designed and carried out and through which findings are reported. Communications that initiate and conclude an evaluation (its design and reporting of findings) tend to be more formal, involve a wider range of audiences, and may be more interactive than communications necessary to conduct the evaluation (Maibach & Parrott, 1995). Reporting of findings is the primary objective of strategic planning and is addressed in the separate entry on reporting. This entry discusses communications about planning activities or process that takes place prior to reporting.

Communications necessary to carry out an evaluation include those undertaken as a very first step to identify stakeholders' concerns and conceptualise the evaluation problem. Further communications among healthcare professionals and patients usually take place when decisions are made about their treatments. Planning that is explicitly designated as collaborative or participatory will involve more communication during the process than other strategic approaches. Communications within healthcare organisation usually involve its most immediate participant those for whom the planning is being conducted and those most directly involved in the strategic programme. Planning communications typically take place via meetings or working sessions, individual discussions (formally planned or impromptu), letters, memos, postcards, e-mail, written plans, and other documents that describe aspects of the evaluation.

The role of communication in the strategic and programme planning processes in a health care organisation is very important today. Health communication in its broadest definition is any type of communication whose content is concerned with health. As a field, however, health communication is more clearly defined as the process through which one person, group, or governmental or private organisation uses various communication strategies and channels to educate, motivate, and perpetuate information, skills, and behaviours that are ...