One of the most common challenges in the healthcare sector arises from a common practice in the same sector.
With the “pejotização” (contractor VS full time) of hiring, the bond between the institution and professionals is reduced. However, it is not just about the contractual bond, the emotional or psychological bond is diminished.
Any professional with an employment contract has exclusivity established in a document, but this does not occur in a contractor type agreement. In fact, wrongly, institutions ask for a duty of loyalty and exclusivity that they are not willing to offer when they go for a contractor agreement instead of an employee one.
It is a legitimate option, but with its pros and cons.
In this case, the implications for communication and marketing strategy are the ones considered for this article.
Healthcare institutions are racing to attract and retain talent, with the verticalization of businesses, mergers and acquisitions (more acquisitions than mergers) carried out by groups with high economic power. This momento can be perceived as a revolution. Hospitals and clinics in regional markets that they dominated were forced to do the math in order not to lose human resources to the newly arrived powerful competition.
What was already a challenge became an almost impossible mission.
How can we motivate any healthcare professional to communicate in a way that is also beneficial to the institution?
This is true for businesses of any size. It can be applied to small clinics or large hospitals or healthcare groups. Patients want a bond and the bond is generated by trust. Do not doubt that, if the patient has a trusting relationship with a certain doctor, if the doctor changes institution, the probability of the patient following that doctor is high. I believe this statement is true, even in cases where the patient is forced to forget about their health plan and pay for an appointment. Of the various cases I had the opportunity to follow and work with, there was always this fear. If I tell my patients that I stopped seeing them through the plan and am going to charge for a private consultation, will I lose them all? Not everyone. Eventually it may happen that some choose to remain faithful to the plan, probably for financial reasons, but it is likely that they will follow the doctor they trust.
Brand Loyalty. The same thing that makes people refuse Pepsi because they are fans of Coca-Cola, makes patients follow their doctor… unless they change city, state or country, of course.
Let’s look at doctors as brands. And these brands work daily to create authority and reputation, even before entering the job market, investing in their education and training, and following the specializations that best suit their professional goals. Then, making choices that help bring their performance to standards that attract patients. A good doctor needs their work to be known and recognized.
And institutions need the recognition of their professionals. It’s no use being the best professional if no one knows, just as it’s no use having the best professionals if the public doesn’t know.
This is where communication and marketing strategies for professionals and institutions come in.
How do you motivate a doctor to take time out of their routine to record a video for the institution? Or, at least, to tag the institution in their own videos. What is the incentive?
If patients follow the doctor, what is the point of this collaboration?
Currently, the logic of the power of large healthcare groups may serve as a reason, but will doctors think this way, or will they weigh in the reasons for hiring them? If the institution sought out these doctors, it is because they are valuable. And this appreciation must be reflected in communication. Or in the contract itself, providing for active participation in publicizing the institution and the institution’s activities, or valuing professionals, establishing communication opportunities as working hours and paid activities for specialized professionals.
The creation of concerted strategies and a logic of collaboration is beneficial for all parties. By helping professionals in the management and strategy of their social media, institutions are helping themselves twice, both in their communication strategy and in the valorization and retention of human capital.
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