Corporate Communications and Customer Relations is another important department. It is a job that supports all parts of the hospital, both in normal conditions and during crises. It is a job that creates understanding with technology and visibility from various media to provide services to hospital users conveniently and quickly.
During this time, we are getting to know the behind-the-scenes team of Thammasat University Hospital, whether it be the medical equipment team, the planning and inventory team, or the information team, whose work we had the opportunity to observe in the previous episode. You cannot walk into the hospital, receive services, and see their work. But the behind-the-scenes team of the hospital does not end there.
After mentioning the behind-the-scenes team, today the admin will take everyone to get to know another behind-the-scenes team that we can easily reach. We may talk to them more often than we talk to medical personnel. Or maybe we already see their work every morning after having coffee. The admin is talking about the Corporate Communications and Customer Relations team. Today, we will get to know this behind-the-scenes team along with Ms. Thipphawipa Khampong, Head of Corporate Communications and Customer Relations, Ms. Napaporn Thienthong, Public Relations, Ms. Chuleeporn Fakfum, and Mr. Anusak Ponsinpayak, Audiovisual Specialist, Corporate Communications and Customer Relations, Thammasat University Hospital.
What is Corporate Communications and Customer Relations?
The Corporate Communications and Customer Relations team is just as the name suggests. They are responsible for internal communications from executives down to all staff, as well as external communications such as talking to patients and visitors. And customer relations is about building good relationships with every customer who comes in for services.
“Standards for data transmission and ethics in communication”
Data is something that changes every second. The transmission can distort the data to some extent. Therefore, when receiving and transmitting data, the team must ensure that the received data is correct before transmitting or disseminating the received data. This is a race against time to keep up with the situation, whether it is the transmission of data from the executive level to external customer groups, which include both patients and service recipients who are not sick but come for regular health check-ups.
“People don’t just want to know what’s going on outside, they want to know what’s happening inside the hospital as well.”
When COVID-19 came, communication became a challenging task because at the beginning of the outbreak, almost no one had information about it or really knew about it. However, communication needed to find information, verify it, and disseminate knowledge so that the public would know what it is, how to prevent it, and how to take care of themselves to survive it. The communication that was sent out did not only cover the outbreak situation outside, but also included the situation inside the hospital. How many patients are under our care? Which staff are infected? Which services have been suspended? Appointments have been postponed. Adjustment of service formats requires correct and clear communication.
“More work in less time”
Social media production during COVID-19 is urgent and hurried because it requires fast dissemination. The production process must be reduced. Information is updated daily, such as the number of infected people, deaths, or vaccination services. Although there were already daily tasks before, such as internal hospital activities, patient treatment support, and hospital public relations, when COVID-19 occurred, these activities disappeared and were replaced by COVID-19-related work. The work is not less than before, but the format has changed. The work is more urgent, but the work is more difficult than before.
“The key is that the information must be accurate and reliable.”
In working, social media must have a unique identity that when we see it, we can immediately know that this is a public relations or announcement from Thammasat University Hospital. Identity will be created in various forms. For example, the hospital will emphasize the form of a distinctive color tone that is the identity of the hospital’s graphic work. But the most important thing is that the communication and media used by the hospital must be reliable. The information must be correct because we are an organization that must create trust from the general public.
Line Account Official
The main channel now will be Line Account Official or Line@, but the hospital will develop it to be more in line with the 4.0 era. There will be a chat room that provides information or answers questions that patients want to know. It is a quick part of access. Ask and get an answer immediately. In preparing the data or various databases, there will be a focus on keywords to receive questions and answer them directly. For example, COVID-19 will prepare all main keys related to COVID-19 so that the keys will match the questions that service users ask.
“New questions arise every day.”
At first, there were some errors in answering information that did not match the questions. New questions kept popping up. In the past, there were only specific questions about hospital services. But when COVID-19 came, the questions started to become more diverse, such as how to use this system, how to book a vaccine, where to get a COVID-19 test. So we took those questions and edited them, improved the answers, and filtered more keywords to make sure that the answers we had matched the questions that each user had 100%.
“Communication to create understanding”
When COVID-19 first came out, the communication work had to produce a lot of educational media because people didn’t know about COVID-19 and didn’t understand it well enough. This also included publicizing the services and assistance from the hospital. For example, going to the area to film a video clip to tell the steps to receive vaccination services, how to register, where to go, what to do, and what to do correctly for safety and speed in receiving services. When the vaccination center was scheduled to open, this communication became a very urgent task that required educating the public before they actually came to receive services.
“Just these few words are good enough.”
Ms. Thipphawipa shared that what impressed her about working here was that even though the service recipients did not use the communication services directly, they still thought of and thanked the support team behind the scenes. They wrote postcards and students sent letters by mail to encourage them. Patients or service recipients who contacted to ask for information told them to take care of their health, wished them good health, and survived COVID-19. Just a few words of thanks or compliments, “These things are enough to encourage us to continue working.”
Conclusion
Corporate Communication and Customer Relations Team They are the producers of media used to communicate with all citizens. They work behind the scenes and don’t often show up for us. They are determined and work hard to prepare information and produce media that is useful to all citizens. With the desire that citizens have a better life, gain knowledge and understanding, and receive the most accurate information.
“Even though we are not the frontline, not the healthcare workers, we are a small part that drives the hospital forward. Just this makes me feel good and proud to work here.”
Back Office Team Corporate Communications and Customer Relations | Thammasat University Hospitalรติ
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