Magic mobile numbers can save lives: a step towards prompt and effective communication

Abstract

Effective communication is an important part of health care management. The current study brings forth the perspective of effective communication through the timely usage of key mobile number which actually saved the life of a critical patient in trauma centre of our setting. A patient ‘X’, 07 years old female child, case of severe Grade IV dog bite with complete avulsion of scalp and in an unconscious state was brought to the Advance Trauma Centre of PGIMER. She was requiring approximately 40,000 IU of immunoglobulin as a life saving measure on an urgent basis which as per the information by routine communication path of general surgery resident was not available in the hospital. The request involved multitude of challenges: The urgency of the life-saving serum at night time, the poor patient’s unaffordability to procure the serum from outside which was amounting to approximately INR 20000 and above all the limited administrative financial power to senior resident hospital administration for INR 2000. In such a situation of crisis, the use of magic mobile number by the senior resident hospital administration proved to be miraculous. The immunoglobulin was arranged, given to the critically ill patient and actually saved her life.  The case report establishes the importance of cross-checking, an important aspect of communication in healthcare management and the prompt use of a contact number from list of 10 contact numbers of the key officials who are manning the various hospital services available in the administrative control room. Though this is an era of telemedicine and pima facie it was a form of communication gap and a simple step involving prompt thinking in the right direction, going back and completing the loop of communication actually proved out to be life-saving. In the context of resource limited settings, if we can improve and innovate in our communication network within the existing hospital framework, it can save lives.