Health is one of the fields in which lately it is being sought with greater determination to work as a service. Efforts and developments are being made in both the public and private spheres to improve quality, but sometimes those efforts are not heading in the right direction.
There is a reason that the word warmth appears more frequently associated with health services than with other types of services.
It is being understood that warmth is a very important aspect to achieve patient satisfaction. The testimony that I am going to show you reflects this reality.
This is the experience lived by an athlete who, due to an accident, had to undergo a long and painful rehabilitation to regain mobility in his legs.
He was "lucky" to access one of the best-equipped and most renowned rehabilitation centers in his country. However, his account reveals that this rehabilitation center had everything to provide an excellent service, but it failed to guide the patient, his real needs, closely related to this aspect of warmth in the service.
I transcribe below a paragraph from the book "After the Abyss", where he tells his own experience:
"I consider that any health clinic must be, with all the sails deployed, as with a stern wind… helping the patient to move forward, in rehabilitation. Encouraging him not to give up…, not to lower his arms, not to stop fighting… Accompanying, encouraging, holding, stimulating patients who tire, despair or become overwhelmed, in this persistent fight for life… ”
See what the patient is asking for! You are not asking for state-of-the-art equipment, or the latest TV model in the room, or a battalion of physical therapists at your disposal. Ask for encouragement! He asks that they accompany him…
This does not require a Nobel Prize in Medicine or cutting-edge technology. People concerned about one person - the patient - are required. And this ingredient should permeate the work of all health professionals. From the surgeon, the physiotherapist, the psychologist, the nurse, who brings the food, who cleans the room. Patients ask for personal treatment, to be looked at and treated as people, not as work items.
If you are involved in health services, here is the look of your patients. This is what they ask for. I am not saying that professional knowledge and skills are not important, nor that any infrastructure does not matter. They are very important indeed. But what do you do with all that if your patient drops her arms in her struggle to live and to recover?
So I propose the following actions that you can implement every time you face a new patient:
- Take care of him as an individual and different from the one in the next bed. Do you know his name Were you interested in the reason that led him to be there? Do you know his family, his history? Do you know what he likes? Don't say phrases like words of encouragement. He will notice and only serve to get you out of trouble. If you have to tell him something, try to make him sincere and special to him. Many times he just needs to be heard. Take an interest in his current state. How do you feel today? Did you like the food Are you sore Are you sad, anguished, depressed? Always keep in mind that your goal is not to be there, but at home, living a normal life, and try to contribute your grain of sand today to move forward on that journey. Do you lack the courage to carry out the treatment? Have you lost hope? Has doubts? Do you need concrete help?
The quality in the health services must undoubtedly count on the warmth in the treatment of the patient and his family. Without this pillar, the service will be incomplete.
Remember that the WHO defines health as: State of complete physical, mental and social well-being; and not just the absence of disease. Then concern yourself with increasing health in the broadest sense, since even physical health requires mental and spiritual strength to be achieved.
