By Healthcare Facilities Today

According to a blog on the FacilityCare website, facility manager Ode Richard Keil conducted a short, nonscientific survey of hospital leaders to get a sense of their perceptions of the communication skills of facility managers and clinical engineering managers.

Keil's sample included CEOs, CFOs, CNOs, nurse managers, supply chain leadership and a few others. according to Keil, most of them shared that they perceive facility managers as poor communicators. 

The alarming finding, he said, was the connection they made between poor communication and the quality of service provided.

"I followed up with several of the C Suite respondents to see if I could get a better feel for why these two factors are closely linked in their minds. The key feedback included comments about never seeing or hearing from the facilities and clinical engineering managers until some sort of crisis occurred. Almost all members of the group said they had little day-to-day knowledge of how well the bricks and mortar were performing," Keil wrote. 

In response to the specific question “Why is poor communication considered an indicator of poor service?” the overwhelming answer was “What do you expect when every time I see a facility manager he gives me bad news?”

The first lesson here, according to Keil, is that communications based on bad situations over a long period of time create an impression of incompetence. 

"The second is that poor customer service skills are equated with poor quality work. I know from my own work that these are not fair judgments. Facility managers generally do a great job of maintaining buildings with limited resources," he wrote.

Read the blog.