The NYtimes reported the results of an interesting survey conducted with patients in North America at several top hospitals. The article notes that nationwide 67% patients mentioned they would recommend their institution to friends and relatives. It also notes….“Many patients reported that they had not been treated with courtesy and respect by doctors and nurses; that they had not received adequate pain medication after surgery; and that they did not understand the instructions they received when discharged from the hospital”.
My personal hospital experiences always involve apprehension (what new papers do i need to fill out before the doctor condescends to see me), a bit of anger at how casually healthcare providers act (inured i’m sure by the sight of the dying day in and day out) and some relief when I leave the place - i almost find myself feeling better when I leave a crowded, dark, dull hospital and feel the sun and wind on my face outside!
I’ve been coming across this ‘Healthcare experience’ discussion a lot lately. Last month as part of a workshop at IIT Kanpur we gave students the problem of redesigning the healthcare system at the IIT through technology interventions (most groups came up with hybrid solutions - website and mobile SMS, mobiles and the IIT-wide intercom facility and such). One student group found through their discussions with staff and students at the healthcare center that patients felt doctors were ‘not touching us enough, not talking to us enough, not hearing us intently enough’. I also recall reading in Dan Pink’s Whole New Mind recently that several medical schools in North America have been teaching their students ‘empathy’, ’story telling’, ‘role playing’ and other such softer skills - which sounds like a good move.
I’m still skeptical though - will the medical profession ever embrace an open-source approach towards sharing medical knowledge and conducting treatments? Do they need to?
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March 30th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
The most striking think about healthcare comes from management guru Tom Peters - http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?note=010292.php
“Generally, the more prestigious the hospital you check into, and the more eminent and numerous the physicians who attend you, the more likely you are to receive low-quality or even dangerous and unnecessary care.”