Humanizing voice mail in healthcare

Over the past few years, voice mail has spread rapidly through the corporate environment. Healthcare facilities were slow to adopt this form of telecommunication until it became clear that healthcare was indeed a business, and this innovative technology was becoming a permanent fixture in the business world. Unfortunately, basic two-way communication with compassion, which is so critical to the success of healthcare, became peripheral to computer-mediated technology. While there is debate over the voice mail appropriateness in healthcare, one point of agreement is that voice mail is here to stay. The author examines one hospital's experience with computer-mediated communication, its initiative for improvement without monetary options, and its evolution toward a more compassionate, humanistic system for its internal and external customers.