What is the difference between communication and notification?

Communicating and notifying patients on time and efficiently are among the most important processes in the patient-clinic relationship. Patients need to be aware of their healthcare journey at all times and should be provided with relevant, accurate, and important data and information. How this information is delivered to patients can be different. Therefore, sometimes a clinic might communicate with patients and other times the clinic will simply notify the patients. Let’s explore the main difference between communication and notification, and take a look at when a clinic might employ the method of communication and when it might simply notify patients regarding their healthcare journey.

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The main difference between communication and notification

The process of communication traditionally involves the exchange of information between two different parties. In the world of healthcare, this would be a dialogue between a patient and a clinic or designated healthcare provider, doctor, etc. The length of communication can vary depending on the nature of the conversation.

Notification represents a single message, text, or prompt sent as a one-way transmission from one party to another. Notifications are usually short, and their main purpose is to notify or alert the recipient, in this case, the patient, of an upcoming event, schedule changes, or present an action that the patient needs to confirm or take.

Today, there are many different ways in which patients can be notified or contacted by their healthcare providers for communication. One of the leading modern solutions to patient communication and notification is via AI, or natural language processing AI to be more precise. NLP AI can be employed to perform both communication and notification processes. However, since there is a clear difference between communication and notification, it is important that we take a look at when and in which scenario a clinic ideally uses these two distinct processes to deliver a piece of information to their patients.

Natural language processing AI – Communication and notification uses and scenarios

NLP AI enables a completely natural and fluid communication between patients and healthcare providers. This kind of AI acting as a form of virtual health assistant, has the ability to communicate with patients as a regular person but also uses data, training, and other processes to analyze each conversation and improve its interactions with each patient as much as possible. This allows it to create a highly personalized form of communication, one that is different and unique for each patient according to their medical history, healthcare journey so far, and their overall needs and preferences. An NLP AI system such as Patricia by Eniax is trained to understand patient inquiries, provide responses, and engage in dialogues to address various medical queries but also perform other actions such as scheduling or rescheduling appointments, etc. These are just some of the many ways Eniax manages to keep a patient informed. Patricia is trained to know the difference between communication and notification, and as such, knows exactly for which scenario to use each process.

A virtual health assistant will communicate with patients when more than one message is necessary to fully deliver the information and the back-and-forth dialogue is necessary to complete the entire dialogue between a clinic and a patient. Through communication with patients, AI can offer personalized support by understanding patients' inquiries and guiding them through healthcare processes. When a patient seeks clinical assessment or advice, AI can use communication to find out more about what it is that the patient needs and which appropriate actions should be recommended.

Notifying patients is equally important as communicating with them. Instances when a clinic will choose to notify instead of communicate with patients are, for example, situations when patients need to receive appointment reminders. AI can send pre-made appointment reminders on time and with a very effective text message that will get the main point across. A clinic will use notifications when performing remote health monitoring for patients. AI-generated notifications can alert patients and healthcare providers to changes in health metrics. Finally, notifications are used in preventive care. For screenings, vaccinations, or follow-up consultations a patient will normally receive adequate notifications.

Communication and notification processes in healthcare – differences and uses with AI

So, to conclude, the main difference between communication and notification lies in their very nature and their purpose. If there is a back-and-forth dialogue, then we are talking about communication between patients and clinics. If the clinic simply delivers a short text containing information regarding a patient’s follow-up exam or upcoming schedule changes, then we are talking about the notification process. Both of these processes can be equally used and optimized by NLP AI in order to allow clinics to have the most effective and natural communication with patients and deliver all of the information on time, improving overall patient satisfaction and clinic efficiency.