The New Media Operation Program of West China Hospital, Sichuan University Won Asian Hospital Management Awards for the First Time In China

CHENGDU, China, Sept. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- On the afternoon of August 29, the 2014 Asian Hospital Management Awards for the categories of Marketing, PR or Online Presence and Service Improvement for Internal Customers were given to the representatives of two hospitals from mainland China in the conference hall of the RadissonBlu hotel in Cebu, the second largest city of Philippines. West China Hospital, Sichuan University was one of them. Its new media operation program, "Application of Microblog (Weibo) Matrix in Hospital Information Dissemination," won the Excellence Award in Marketing, PR or Online Presence, making it the first new media operation program in mainland China to win such an honor and the sixth program from West China Hospital that has won an Asian Hospital Management Award.

As an information exchange platform based on the microblog communication channel, "West China Hospital microblog matrix," which integrates the official microblog of the hospital, the microblogs of its 48 departments and more than 2,000 staff members, the program not only furnishes patients with the movements of the hospital and science knowledge on health, but it can also provide real-time reports on major medical events to society. For example, on April 2012, a live broadcast on the official microblog of West China Hospital on its medical rescue work during the earthquake drew wide public attention. The message on the convening and setting out of its medical rescue team to the earthquake-hit regions attracted over 6,930,000 exposures. A photo capturing an anesthesiologist of West China Hospital carrying a patient out of the surgery room on his back was released on the microblog of a nurse, the photo-taker, and was widely recognized, obtaining 1,070,000 exposures. Mainstream media such as CCTV, CNR and The People's Daily also did follow-up reports on it. Thanks to the microblog matrix, the exposure of West China Hospital during the earthquake was 10 times higher than usual and West China Hospital was searched for more than 70,000 times on Baidu. Through the interaction with the "West China Hospital microblog matrix," the number of fans of the official microblog of the hospital climbed to 256,800 in 2013, increasing by 136,500 from the year before, a year-on-year growth rate of 113.4 percent, with forward comments rising to 44,132, up by 279.78 percent year-on-year. The number of webpages containing the words "West China Hospital" on Baidu soared to 25.8 million, up by 318.83 percent year-on-year, and the rate of positive feedback from netizens to the hospital grew to 87 percent, up by 17.56 percent compared with the same period last year.

The construction of West China Hospital's microblog matrix can be dated back to the year 2011. And in 2013, the "West China Hospital Microblog Association," covering the whole hospital, was established, through which staff was trained on how to operate the public accounts of the departments and offered regular suggestions on the use of the individual accounts.

This award will further promote the development of the management level of Chinese hospitals, and has also proved the importance of the operation of the emerging network media in hospital management.

Note 1: The Asian Hospital Management Awards is one of the top awards in the Asian medical industry. This year, 308 programs were presented by nearly 100 outstanding hospitals from 12 countries and regions including Japan, South Korea, India Indonesia, Burma, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Kuwait, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were competing for the awards. To meet the requirements of the Asian Hospital Management Awards, the submitted program must highlight the innovation capabilities of the hospital with an eye towards solving the practical problems of hospital management. It also has to be original, advanced in Asia, duplicable, theoretically based, and have the recognition of a third party in the its region.

Note 2: The list of winners of Asian Hospital Management Award: http://hospitalmanagementasia.com/ahma-2014-list-of-winners/

SOURCE West China Hospital of Sichuan University