This is my take home message from the third day at the Marseille experience. This is the essence of patient centered approach. When health care providers assume the paternalistic approach, it comes to the level that the provider designs the care/ management in the way the provider wants it to be. The expectation from the patient is to accept it. So the decision maker is the provider. Patient is forced to agree with anything and everything asked by the care provider without even knowing what is it for or how it is going to affect the patient or what are the alternatives or choices available. In other words, irrespective of patient’s choice, the patient becomes forced to say yes. In this process, patients do not receive the required information. Medical language, rushing providers, lack of consistency and continuity of care , patient’s feeling of uncertainty about the outcome and their… Continue reading →

 

I was shocked to learn the CDC report on the suicide rate among nurses (0.11 deaths per 1000) as opposed to general public (0.07 per 1000). Nurses’ health has recently caught my attention. Their burn out, emotional distress, fatigue, physical- psychological- safety concerns related to shift work etc. For the past two years, I had been talking to groups of nurses about minimizing the effect of shift work. American Nurses Association and American Association of Critical care Nurses are working towards healthy nurses and healthy workplace.

Recently there have been discussions on resident’s distress and the need for caring for care provider. Suicide rate of med students also is alarming. There also, increasing demands at workplace, inability to come in terms with emotional challenges, lack of support and compassionate approach from the healthcare leadership make the individual either leave the profession or stretch oneself till it breaks!

As a… Continue reading →

In Napa, I am sitting and watching the life story of Lewis Blackman, a life-changing story not only for Ms. Helen Haskell or the healthcare professionals involved in Lewis’s care, but for many especially who are in the health care arena. Lewis communicated to the health care community by his elevated heart rate, uncontrolled pain and his appearance. His mother who was beside him throughout the hospitalization communicated her concerns. But, the health care team listened for what they wanted to hear. The first principle of patient care- believe your patient, was ignored. Lewis was a fighter. He fought for his life for days, but the health care system failed him. If the nurse recognized the inability to record a blood pressure as a warning sign, and the next person who recorded an acceptable blood pressure has not filled the hole as (s)he wanted to or the senior surgical professionals… Continue reading →