Crisis Communications

(When it comes to crisis communications, no one can be fully prepared. However, by understanding the key concepts and principles behind proper crisis communications, any individual can be somewhat properly prepared for anything that may come their way. The following was taken from a blog I follow, please feel free to gain some valuable information from this as I have.)

Guest blog by Jon Pushkin, APR president of Pushkin Public Relations, Denver, Colo.

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it." Warren Buffet was right. Denver's Rose Medical Center, which has long enjoyed a stellar reputation as one of Denver's premier hospitals, is learning that lesson the hard way.
Rose's reputation was badly damaged when the public learned that a drug-addicted surgical scrub tech with hepatitis C had potentially exposed thousands of patients to the disease. For six months, she stole syringes with pain medication, injected herself, refilled the syringes with saline and returned them for use on patients. It was bad enough for the hospital to deal with outrage over how this happened and why it took so long to discover the problem. Now Rose faces dozens of lawsuits and a daily stream of negative news stories.

Don't panic
Unfortunately, when faced with a crisis or negative press, the first instinct of many medical practice leaders is to hide and hope it goes away. Others get defensive. Some request retractions or go to war with a publication. Obviously, none of these responses is very smart. You can't hide and you can rarely intimidate the media into a retraction. What you can do is take your medicine and address the problem. Better still, you can plan ahead so if you find yourself in hot water you won't get burned.
A good crisis communications plan anticipates potential problems and develops a response for each scenario. It designates roles and responsibilities for each member of the crisis team, identifies a primary spokesperson and establishes a command center where accurate information can be managed and delivered at specified times through specific channels, such as your Web site, Twitter or a media briefing.

Follow the CAP formula
Compassion
The most important part of your response is to show compassion to the public. For example, "Our top priority is the safety of our patients and staff. We've established a 24-hour hotline where patients and family members can get information and we've arranged counseling for our employees." Provide accurate, honest information as quickly as possible. Explain what you know so far by sticking to the facts. Never speculate. Speak with one consistent voice.
Action
Explain what you are doing to fix the problem and make sure that it does not happen again. For example, "We are reviewing all our safety and hiring procedures to make sure that our security and screening processes are the best they can be."
Perspective
Use your history to your advantage, for example, "We've been a part of this community for 50 years. Nothing like this has ever happened and we are doing everything we can to make sure this is an isolated incident and that it never happens again."

Of course, bad press doesn't come only from a disaster. It can result from an unhappy employee, an angry patient suing for malpractice, a bad business deal, a crossed ethical boundary, or something as simple as a bruised ego or poor customer service.
That's why it's vital to establish and maintain good relationships with local media and your patients. It can help you mitigate the damage from a negative story by making it more likely that the reporter and the public will give you the benefit of the doubt. Once you get that opportunity, don't waste it. Make sure you:

Communicate openly, honestly, factually and compassionately.
Keep your cool. Don't get baited into a confrontation.
Ask the reporter for an opportunity to convey your point of view. Don't demand a retraction; instead, ask for a meeting to tell your side of the story.
Avoid saying "no comment." It sounds like you have something to hide. If you don't know the answer, tell them you will find out and get back to them. If your lawyer recommends not answering, then find a way to respond without giving your lawyer a heart attack.

Create three key messages and stick to them as much as possible. "We are devastated that this happened." "We are doing everything we can to fix the problem." "This is an isolated incident and we are doing everything in our power to make sure it will never happen again." Stay on message. Express your key points and repeat them as often as you can without sounding like a robot.
The first step to managing negative press for your medical practice is to plan ahead. If you don't have a crisis communications plan now, get one. Gather your team, brainstorm every possible scenario, assign roles and responsibilities and create a sample response to every crisis using the CAP formula.

The reputation you've worked so hard to build can be damaged in the blink of an eye. If you wait until a disaster occurs to start thinking about damage control, it could be too late.
Jon Pushkin, APR, is the president of Pushkin Public Relations, which specializes in strategic communications programs for health care organizations.