“I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.” – from the Modern Hippocratic Oath
Far too often in these days of cost cutting and bottom line thinking does the above phrase gets overlooked in healthcare. From overcrowded emergency rooms, to hospitals, and even in some general practices the art of actually caring for the patient, rather than just treating them, is becoming an outdated ideal. However, recently CWCOA became aware of an institution that is providing a stellar example of how compassion, courtesy, and customer service are used to treat patients and their families as people rather than numbers.
The North Shore University Hospital has held themselves to a higher standard when it comes to caring for their patients as well as their families. North Shore has adapted the use of mobile technology to allow for faster identification and response to incoming patient emergencies. Through the use of an iPhone, the patient was able to directly connect to a receptionist at the hospital’s emergency room. The call was handled professionally and the family was reassured that the emergency would be handled promptly by the medical staff. In this day and age in South East Queens, Jamaica, such professionalism is comforting, especially not knowing what to expect going to certain other emergency rooms.
Considering the emotional and physical trauma one experiences when seeking emergency care, the injured expect to be handled with courtesy and care. North Shore met and exceeded all expectations on all counts in this case.
Rather than focusing on the dollars and cents of the bottom line, hospitals should be focused on the quality of care provided to the patients. Through improved compassion for patients and their families hospitals would create a reputation of superior, patient centric care and see their profits increase as more people would come to the hospital with the positive reputation.
The CWCOA would like to applaud North Shore for their efforts in continuously improving their process in comforting patients in their time of need, instead of adding insult to the injury and prolonging the agony which occurs on a regular basis at many local hospitals.