Listen and learn
I RECALL an email I received some 20 years ago. I did not recognise the sender, Jane Smith, but I did open the email.
The email read (names changed for the purpose of privacy) “Hello Ruth, you do not know me, at least not as Jane Smith, I use to be known as John Smith. We were in the same medical class, it has been many years since we last caught up. I was wondering if you and the girls would like to be my friends again”.
The girls he referred to were part of our final year medical group, we were a group of six, five females and John.
The next morning I contacted one by one, each of the five females in our group, I explained the email, and John’s transition to being Jane and his wish to meet with us and be our friend. It was the 1990s, I was not sure how everyone would react, but pleased to say everyone agreed to meet.
Through getting to know Jane, I came to understand her journey, I came to understand what patient centred care really is and why it matters. I came to understand that while we each have our own prejudices, preferences and beliefs, we need to be tolerant, especially as medical practitioners and healthcare workers. We need to be providing patients with care that is respectful of their values, preferences and needs.
Barwon Health has been emphasising patient-centred care for a number of years. Staff are trained to be aware of patient wishes by giving patients a voice and by creating an environment where the patient’s needs are heard.
I was pleased to hear that our training is working and that we are achieving what we set out to do. Last week, Barwon Health was one of several local organisations that celebrated International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT), marking 28 years since the World Health Organisation declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder.
At the celebration, I heard a story highlighting how Barwon Health truly practises patientcentred care. The story was of a transgender person, like my friend Jane, who was admitted to our hospital. What was patientcentred about her experience was that staff, by listening to her wishes, enabled her to have her chosen name on her hospital wristband and above her bed, instead of her birth name. This seemingly small gesture is the one aspect she identified as having the biggest impact on her stay in our hospital. Small gesture on our part but a huge impact on her feeling of ‘being safe’ at Barwon Health.
Another important aspect of patient-centred care is creating a healing environment. This extends beyond the ward and into our sites’ communal areas and gathering points. The ambience of the gardens, café and corridors are all part of the journey to heal.
The positive impact an environment can have on a person’s wellbeing is well displayed at our McKellar Centre Town Square. Thanks to a bequest, a purpose-built garden was established, providing a beautiful outlook and family space over one acre. Families have told us how this homelike environment gives them and their loved ones a breath of normality within the healthcare accommodation setting.
Over the past two weeks, we have had patients, family, staff and volunteers participating in our mosaic project whereby mosaics created will be incorporated into our hospital podium upgrade, made possible by a generous bequest.
Bringing patients, families, staff and the community to be part of this development is another small but significant aspect of the patient-centred care philosophy. We do it together.
At one of the staff and community mosaic-making sessions I attended, a mother of a former paediatric patient who passed away last year was making a mosaic with the colours her son loved. We spoke about her son and the role Barwon Health played in his short life. She remembered the caring and love given to him and the family, she remembered how they were made to feel. That is what personcentred care is all about.