Public relations plans in health care
Public relations in health care builds relationships between an organisation and its publics to raise awareness of health, research and programmes. A public relations plan fixes what is being promoted, engages the stakeholders, sets the budget, and names the audience, the key messages, the timeline and the channels, and it is carried out through relationships with the internal team, the media and influencers.
What public relations does in health care
The Public Relations Society of America describes public relations as a communication strategy that organisations and their publics use to build mutually beneficial relationships. Public relations plays a critical role in health care because it allows institutions and organisations to raise awareness about health, share groundbreaking research and help people take control of their own health. A new treatment is less impactful if the public is not aware of its launch. Public relations also helps highlight health initiatives, reach underserved populations and amplify the effectiveness of community and hospital programmes and treatments, and a patient's story of a new treatment may offer hope to others on the same journey. Accurate and factual information on health initiatives, research developments and patient programmes helps build trust in the medical community. Health care public relations thus helps spread information that can help people live healthier and more fulfilling lives.
Public relations as a medical communicator's work
Those trained in health care public relations can extend their reach through a variety of platforms, including earned, owned and bought media, using public relations as a tool to educate the public on medical and public health information. One director of public relations at a cancer centre holds that it is important for medical communicators to understand how public relations can leverage relationships between medical institutions and the public. In her view, working in public relations gives a medical communicator the opportunity to enhance outreach, engage with stakeholders and build collaborative relationships, and to share impactful stories of hope and important health information that help people live healthier lives.
Building the plan
Public relations experts within a department typically develop a public relations or media plan. In the same director's account, the plan begins by fixing the "it" being promoted, which can be a clinical or patient programme, an award or recognition, a research study, a sponsorship or partnership, an important milestone, patient and clinical services, a facility opening or launch, or patient testimony. Once the "it" is fixed, the stakeholders are engaged and the supporters and collaborators identified. The plan should also include costs and a budget. Costs can depend on what is being promoted and may be known or discoverable, stakeholders and collaborators may be involved, the budget may involve different departments, divisions and institutions, and the funds may come from grants or donors. To complete the plan, the target audience must be identified, key messages developed, a timeline and deliverables determined and the communication channels established. The channels chosen may depend on the audience, the content and the timeline.
Carrying out the plan
Every good plan involves more than the public relations expert, drawing on many people who are experts in social media, the web, video, photography and more. The same director holds that relationships are the fundamental component of any public relations role and important for a successful plan. Building relationships with the internal team, the media and influencers helps carry the plan out. Relationships also help build rapport and trust, open communication channels and strengthen an organisation's personal brand, and they define roles, help manage expectations and create loyalty. For her, building relationships with the media means understanding a reporter's beat, reporting style, the stories they cover, their audience and how they engage on social media and with others. She wants the stories she pitches to matter as much to the media, who care about their audience, as they do to her.