Developing A Process Model For Crisis Management Communication About Medical Dispute

Abstract

This research aims to understand the process of crisis management communication in hospital medical disputes and explore a reasonable and theoretical model for that. The data were collected from in-depth interviews with twelve medical dispute professionals at all levels of hospitals in Seoul, Busan and Kyung-nam Province. ‘The Process Model of Crisis Management Communication About Medical Dispute’ is divided into six steps, ‘Preparation for Crisis Step’, ‘Issue Management Step’, ‘Explanation Step’, ‘Negotiation Step’, ‘Legal Action Step’ and ‘Controlling and Learning Step.’ The most important point is that not every case goes through all of these steps, and some cases even skip some of them. Also, preparation for a new crisis phase tends to follow the resolution of a crisis. Most existing studies have focused on a limited number of steps centering around press reports after the crisis has been known, but this study looks at all steps in crisis management. This study finds that the crisis of medical dispute goes through selective and sequential steps that are unlike the linear process as presented in previous studies. Also, the activities in before and after crisis steps were not enough for crisis management such as planning, evaluation, and compensation. Moreover, some strategies that not mentioned in existing crisis communication rhetoric theory including ‘listening’, ‘Explanation’, ‘Contact by the Third Party’, ‘delaying action’, ‘higher authority’ have been used. That strategies can be explained as a kind of ‘Negotiation Communication Strategy’. This is one of the most significant findings of the present study.