Vanderbilt Medical Center: Communication and Patient Engagement Report

This report provides an analysis of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's patient engagement activities and communication strategies. The center prioritizes effective healthcare delivery through patient engagement and communication facilities. It offers interpretation and translation services, includi...Read More

Running head: VANDERBILT MEDICAL CENTER 1
Patient Engagement Activities and Communication
Name
Institution

VANDERBILT MEDICAL CENTRE 2
This paper analyses Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Through the caring spirit and
exceptional capabilities, the hospital is committed to delivering improved health care to the
communities and various individuals in general (Brennan et al., 2015). The center is committed to
the provision of effective communication strategies and patient engagement facilities. Interpretation
and translation services are provided at the hospital for patients and students who are not native
English speakers. This is achieved through the availability of e-docs that ensures that the medical
documents are translated for the patients (Boykins, 2014). These documents can also be easily
searched by title and subject. Through the Vanderbilt translator services, the documents can easily
be translated at the medical center website. These translator services are provided to all individuals
irrespective of their language.
The organization's website has a variety of books and electronic documents. Document translation
is easily available as the students or patients can directly search the document they want to be
translated. In case they don't get help from the website, they can call the number 615-936-6240.
This will enable them to access the translator department that will assist them. Example
languages that are translated include Spanish, French, Bosnian and German. The medical center
is connected to the Centro De Apoyo Al Inmigrante, with the street address 2517-B Nolensville
Pike Nashville, TN 3721 that helps the hospital with translator services.
The medical center has effective strategies that are aimed at fostering high-level training
for its employees and ensuring effective communication with its clients irrespective of the
existing cultural barriers (Sarkar & Bates, 2014). The Center engages the use of training and
workshops revolving around an individual's identity, microaggressions, and cultural humility

VANDERBILT MEDICAL CENTRE 3
among its employees. Through social group membership exploration, the medical center can
derive the social identities of its employees and customers. All the participants are therefore
driven as a single social unit thus promoting equitable healthcare services. These efforts are quite
evident in the events that have been organized by the medical center such as the Upcoming
iDiologues Spring 2020 which is supposed to take place in February 2020 (Rehm et al., 2017).
With these improved training, the employed are equipped with the necessary skills they require
to handle incoming patients within the center (Johnson & Ehrenfeld, 2018). The above-stated
program also offers the employees a chance to interact with other experts from other
organizations. This plays a role in access to and sharing of information that finally contributes to
effective healthcare.
Several deficiencies have been noted in Vanderbilt's efforts in the provision of effective
medical services to its clients. The main challenge facing the center is an adaptation to the
current technological advancements. This has pushed the center to invest a huge amount of
money to cut the edge in technological advancements (Rehm et al., 2017). The center is also
running short of devising the effective ways that can help them deal with increase shooting
incidences across different parts of the United States. There are also deficiencies in ensuring
effective patient communication. This is quite evident in the hospital's lack of ability to organize
one on one education for its patients. Despite the challenges, the center is high omitted and is
aiming to improve its healthcare provision across the region

VANDERBILT MEDICAL CENTRE 4
References
Davis Boykins, A. (2014). Core communication competencies in patient-centered care. ABNF
Journal, 25(2).
Flatley Brennan, P., Valdez, R., Alexander, G., Arora, S., Bernstam, E. V., Edmunds, M., ... &
Rosenbloom, T. (2015). Patient-centered care, collaboration, communication, and
coordination: a report from AMIA's 2013 Policy Meeting. Journal of the American
Medical Informatics Association, 22(e1), e2-e6.
Johnson, K. B., & Ehrenfeld, J. M. (2018). An EPIC switch: preparing for an electronic health
record transition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Journal of medical
systems, 42(1), 6.
Sarkar, U., & Bates, D. W. (2014). Care partners and online patient portals. Jama, 311(4), 357-
358.
Rehm, C. D., Marquez, M. E., Spurrell-Huss, E., Hollingsworth, N., & Parsons, A. S. (2017).
Lessons from launching the diabetes prevention program in a large integrated health care
delivery system: a case study. Population health management, 20(4), 262-270.