An
advocate’s first priority is to alleviate the patient’s suffering andto help
them cope with their illnesses
A patient advocate understands that
his client is not a laboratory rat. A patient’s right to compassion and
kindness from every hospital staff member is undisputed. Additionally, a
patient also has the right to voice grievances and complaints and have those
redressed promptly. If a patient for some reason can’t do this himself, he can
always seek help from the advocate.
Healthcare
professionals are intimately involved with every aspect of life, right from
birth to death. It is the only profession, where no matter what is going on in
their personal life, their first priority must be their patient - and as a
patient advocate your task is to remind them that their patients come first.
They are blessed to be granted such a huge privilege, which is why it is
alarming to hear of horror stories about the utterly shabby way in which some
doctors treat their patients. What gives them the right to undermine the
dignity of a patient?
Insensitivity
to another’s pain might explain why the rights of respectful treatment and
autonomy are being undermined with impunity by today’s health practitioners.
Constant exposure to pain and suffering sometimes de-humanizes doctors and
nurses - especially when they are overworked, stressed and burnt out. Respect
for the patient should be reflected in every staff member’s action, word and
behavior. “Putting Patients First” cannot just be an empty platitude that
hospitals print as a mission statement on their websites. The medical staff
needs to be specially trained to act with empathy, so they are able to show
compassion to patients at all times, even in the most provocative and stress-inducing
situations.
Let me
illustrate this with the case of an elderly man (78), who has a brain stroke
and is left with his right side paralysed. He is admitted into a government
hospital, where the staff is so overworked or time-strapped, they have little
time to indulge a “senile, old man.” They don’t understand that the patient is
scared to death about the long-term implications of his immobility, and why he
demands so much attention from his attendants.
So once,
when the patient has the urge to urinate in the middle of the night, he rings
the bell for the ward boy, who assumes that the patient is indulging in one of
his tantrums, and decides not to show up. After waiting for a few minutes, the
patient gets impatient and tries to rise from the bed unaided. He loses his
balance, falls off the bed and ends up fracturing his hip bone. Fractures are
very common in patients of his age, but the untrained paramedic did not see
this coming, eventually leading to an accident that could well have been avoided.
Even worse, the fact that it was the ward boy’s tardiness that led to the
fracture was hushed up, and the family members remained clueless as to why this
complication had occurred. The moral of the story is that even when a patient
is unreasonably demanding, the nursing staff has to be patient and
understanding.
Modern
medicine’s emphasis on the technological and pharmacological treatment of
symptoms overlooks the fact that recovery from disease and trauma requires
healing on all levels: emotional, social, and spiritual. The outcome of a
clinical intervention also depends on the manner in which it is provided - and
the doctor’s personality is often as important as his technical skill. For
example, some patients may be more comfortable receiving individual counseling,
while others (e.g. breast cancer survivors) may benefit more from group
support, where they are able to share their experiences with each other. These
are carefully considered decisions that only an empathetic doctor or advocate
would be able to take on the patient’s behalf.
It is an advocate’s responsibility to ensure that the care that
the patient receives meets with the accepted standards of medical ethics, and
that the patient’s dignity is respected. If this is breached, it’s her responsibility
to report the matter to the hospital authorities, and have it addressed to the
patient’s complete satisfaction.
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