從重大醫療疏失之新聞報導與社群平台回應分析醫療機構組織聲譽在危機溝通中的光環效應

Abstract

台灣的醫療機構在《醫療法》條文對廣告行銷的限制下，醫院公關人員多透媒體活動、記者會與新聞稿塑造形象，但若發生重大醫療疏失，媒體報導也將重創機構形象，然而國內有關醫院公關的文獻多從行銷角度出發，鮮少探討醫療疏失與危機溝通，因此，本研究著重探討臺大醫院洗腎接錯管線的危機案例，尤其深入探討組織的歷史及先前聲譽在危機溝通中可能之光環效應。本研究針對案例相關新聞報導與臉書上相關的粉絲留言，進行內容分析與文本分析；研究結果發現，新聞報導框架以「疏失成因」為主，著重於事件發生始末與民眾期待院方道歉負責的態度；而組織聲望在新聞報導中被處理為「加強語氣」，使得醫療疏失更受到重視，亦反而成為大眾嚴加要求的原因。組織聲望未能在發生疏失時產生屏蔽作用，更加顯見醫院發生危機時聲譽維護的工作充滿挑戰，其中醫院公關人員的角色至為重要；因此本研究建議，醫院公關部門或相關人員應能更積極參與危機處理的決策過程，並由其引導組織進行適當的情境判斷與策略回應。

Under the Medical Care Act, medical institutions in Taiwan are banned from advertising. Thus, most hospitals rely on public relations efforts such as press releases and press conferences to help cultivate a positive image. In the event of any malpractice, however, negative media coverage can devastate the image and put a hospital under public scrutinization, where crisis communication as part of hospital PR becomes essential. Aimed to explore the potential hola effect of a hospital`s prior reputation in crisis communication, the current study examined the widely known case of National Taiwan University Hospital, where its staff connected a wrong tube for dialysis. Content analysis and textual analysis were conducted on relevant news stories as well as publics’ online comments on Facebook. The results showed that most news frames centered around negligence, including how the incident occurred, and public expectations for apology. The wordings of organization`s reputation in the news were often narrated with reinforced blames, calling for more public attention and demanding a greater degree of responsibility. This implies that, prior reputation also brings forward a higher-than-average standard especially when publics make assessment of the hospital`s wrongdoing. In short, organization reputation may not necessarily exercise with a sheltering effect for negligence. As it is challenging to maintain hospital`s reputation during a crisis time, the role of hospital PR personnels becomes even more important. Suggestions were made in the study that hospital PR staff/departments should be allowed to more actively participate in the crisis management process and gear the directions of crisis response strategy.