HMC holds Person-Centred Care Virtual Forum 2021
More than 3,500 healthcare professionals attended the PersonCentred Care Virtual Forum 2021, delivered by Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) recently.
Formerly called the Patient Experience Forum, the unique event was in partnership with internationally renowned USbased healthcare consultants Planetree International.
The theme for the 2021 event, held virtually for the first time, was Compassion in Action: Spread Kindness and there were five main tracks: Measuring and Improving What Matters; Service Excellence; Driving a Transformation; Partnerships with Patients, Families, Staff, and the Community; and Leading in Person-Centred Care.
Dr Abdulla al-Ansari, HMC’s chief medical officer, said: “As healthcare professionals, it is important to remember that whilst we are trained to treat a patient’s illness, we must also, at the same time, look at the whole person; we must talk to and listen to them. We must always try to do more to interact and really understand our patients, take the time to engage with them and their loved ones. It helps us deliver better, personalised care.”
Forum co-chair, Nasser alNaimi, deputy chief of quality, Centre for Patient Experience and Staff Engagement and director, Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute at HMC, said “as we continue to navigate a post Covid-19 world, personcentred care was even more important.
“Person-centred care involves engaging with people
as equal partners in promoting and maintaining their health and assessing their experiences throughout the health system, including communication, trust, respect, and preferences,” al-Naimi said. “It also involves keeping our patients safe, caring for them as people, and making their overall experience the best it can be.
“At Hamad Medical Corporation, we have been on a journey towards engendering and embedding person-centred care in everything we do - the practice of which is essential to the development of patient experience, so being able to draw on international best practice at an event like this is vital.”
Speakers at the virtual forum included a keynote from renowned international author Leon Logothetis, host of the hit Netflix show, The Kindness Diaries.
He spoke to attendees about creating a happier world. Other speakers included Dr Susan Frampton, president of Planetree International; Dr Dael Waxman, the medical director of Patient-Centred Programming at Atrium Health - Mercy Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, US; as well as current and former HMC patients who shared their experiences, Aqeel Saleh al-Maraghi and Aisha al-Marri.
Planetree International is a not-for-profit organisation that partners with healthcare organisations worldwide to transform how patient care is delivered. Its Person-Centred Care Certification Programme, an evidence-based set of standards that define excellence in person-centred care around the world.