How not to screw up communication during a crisis- A lesson for Health Care Professionals
Just a few days before Wuhan was locked down, health authorities were proclaiming that the spread of virus was ‘preventable and controllable’. Like wise, just before the surge happened in South Korea, the South Korean president informed that the country had brought the virus ‘Well under control’. Before catching the disease himself, the Iranian health minister followed suit and wanted people to “Relax” and that they were strictly against quarantine. Nepal’s tourism minister claimed his country free from the virus and welcomed visitors from all over the world on their “Visit Nepal 2020” plan. And this week, the US president claimed the virus is ‘Very well under control’ in the USA. These are a few examples of how the world public leaders tried to calm the public regarding the COVID-19 spread. Among them, WHO deserves a dramatic slow applause for not using the “P word”(Pandemics), for according to them, the world is not in a pandemic situation yet. I challenge their stance and say that the best time to declare a pandemic was yesterday. And I wish, I could imagine what medical doctors all over the world were saying to their patients during the past month and if what they are saying has changed in the past few days.
Among those who ‘Say’ and ‘Do’, health care providers, especially medical doctors and nurses are the doers in the front line and are responsible for guiding their patients. Scary news seems to to sink much better when people hear it straight from a doctor they trust. It is only natural that public trust their doctor a lot more than they trust their government leaders or third hand, pre-approved, quoting newscaster. This trust in doctors and trying to get first hand information results in over crowded hospitals and doctors offices. I’m guessing this is already happening all over the world. Hence, effective communication should inform people of what to expect now. Here are a few things medical staffs on the front line of communication with the patients and public can do.
1. Getting over adjustment reaction: An adjustment reaction-a psychiatric term- means the process of adjusting to a new risk. There are mainly 4 characteristics of adjustment reaction:
You pause: While waiting to see what’s happening, you stop doing things that feel dangerous.
You become hyper vigilant: You become suspicious of people and things around you. You seek news more than you used to.
You personalize the risk: You imagine what if it were you or imagine yourself already having it.
You take extra pre-cautions: Besides the routine precautions, you may also take other precautions that may be premature or unnecessary.
Just like the public, medical workers too go through these stages. Hence, It is very important for health care communicators to go over their own adjustment reaction as soon as they can so that they can themselves be ready for the public. Those who don’t will fall victim to one of the phases and won’t be of much help to their patients. Medical practitioners should encourage the adjustment reactions instead of ridiculing them, they should legitimize them, ally with them and finally guide them. It is also okay to remind your stakeholders that nobody knows yet weather the situation will worsen or blow up.
2. Respectful validation of fear: Validating your own fear is a key when communicating with people who are frightened and know it. Fear can easily turn into panic or flip into denial when it is treated as shameful or wrong. Medical workers need to offer more empathetic responses like “It is ok to be afraid; I understand you; I’m afraid too” rather than “There is nothing to be afraid of”. Assuring people that their fear is appropriate helps them bear their fear much sooner.
3. Encourage Action: It is very helpful to give people things to do while they are going through fear. Action is believed to bind anxiety. Giving people things to decide provides them a sense of control which can make the fear situation more tolerable. Medical workers should encourage love and volunteerism and camaraderie to foster resilience. Remember: The public don’t just want to hear what the officials are doing but they want to hear what they can do too. Encouraging stakeholders to be prepared logistically is a wise thing to do.
At last, regarding the COVID-19 situation, I sincerely hope that governments and health care experts around the world work toward preparing their citizens emotionally for what might happen earlier so that the “window of opportunity to stop the spread of virus” won’t close right in front of our eyes. And the time to do it is NOW- even though we are already a bit late.
—Serious李2020
