Collaborative Communications: A Case Study within the U.S. Army Medical Logistics Community

Communicating collaboratively is a broad and inclusive concept that can be related to effective health care supply chain management. The concept means many things to many people and much clarification is required before differences in multiple opinions can be fully matured among the health care logistics community. Health care, arguably, begins with effective logistical support and when managed effectively, contributes to an enhanced capability that spans a broad spectrum of health care operations. Health care operations cross many functional areas and are inclusive of many stakeholders that can often be both internal and external to a medical organization. Defining and communicating with the appropriate stakeholders is part of the challenge associated with effective health care supply chain management; a challenge that health care logistics professionals should strive to overcome. Within this work, a management model is presented to aid logistics professionals in better understanding the need to communicate more effectively across a broad array of health care professions.