SNI is leveraging communication tools that deliver information to patients, referring physicians and the public as a crucial part of providing care at the advancing edge of neurological knowledge. The goals of these tools are two-fold. One goal is to update established patients and their doctors regarding the latest developments in our programs and centers. The other is to lower the barrier for patients and physicians who are facing a new neurological problem to discover tertiary subspecialty care.
A new SNI communication tool
Dan Rizzuto, Ph.D., director of SNI research, and John Henson, M.D., recently launched the SNI blog to complement other communication efforts and to provide a communication outlet for the staff of SNI. The SNI blog offers brief notes about advances in neurological care provided in SNI’s centers, as well as news items about the institute that are of interest to our patients and referring physicians.
Blog content is more dynamic than Web content. Search engines are able to detect targeted key words within each entry, which helps direct highly relevant Web traffic to the blog. This aids in the dissemination of information to patients and physicians. Viewers also can subscribe to an e-mail notification system that will alert them to newly posted material.
Other SNI communication tools
At SNI we provide print and electronic options to meet the needs of various audiences.
BrainWaves. This print news letter is designed to be an educational resource about neurological topics for physicians in thePacific Northwest. Each issue focuses on conditions treated at SNI. Staff members author the articles.
Physicians Practice. Swedish has the exclusive contract with this practice management journal to customize content in six issues annually. Although the journal is not exclusively used for SNI information, many neurological topics have been covered in recent issues. Swedish maintains an online library of past content in the Health Professionals section of its website at www.swedish.org.
Swedish Neuroscience Institute website. Earlier this year the SNI website took on a new look as part of a project to redesign the entireSwedishMedicalCenter website. SNI members are now able to directly update information about their programs, and are actively developing online patient resources for each of SNI’s programs. The SNI website is a repository of information about our neurological services, research, clinical trials and professional expertise.
Our goal is to continuously improve access to neurological information and the delivery of that information to interested groups of patients and referring physicians.
