In the Hospital, a Degrading Shift From Person to Patient

I waited patiently (and after a while, not so patiently) at the empty registration desk where I had been directed to go to set up my next doctor's appointment.  After several minutes I approached a person at the neighboring desk, who had been steadfastly ignoring me.  "Excuse me" I said, "I was told to register for my next appointment over there, but I've been waiting a while and no one seems to be available." 

"Well that's because she's at lunch" came the exasperated reply, along with an obvious eye roll for my benefit.  Apparently she thought I had the IQ of a turnip not to have figured that out on my own. "Go over there and someone will help you" she said, waving her hand in the general direction I was to go.  'Over there' two people sat at another registration desk.  The first one I approached didn't look up, just waved me on to the next one.  The final person was pleasant and helpful, but it sure took a while to find someone in this medical maze that fit that description.

I was just an outpatient, but that experience made me glad I wasn't there to become an inpatient.

If you've ever been a hospital patient you will appreciate Benedict Carey's article in today's New York Times.  (Free registration required.)

Mr. Carey addresses the issues surrounding the loss of personal dignity and respect that often come with being a patient.  The problem can be even more significant at large teaching hospitals where the best technical care may be offered.

Too often the courtesies that help lubricate and dignify civil society are neglected precisely when they are needed most, when people are feeling acutely cut off from others and betrayed by their own bodies.  Patients even report feeling dehumanized and degraded. 

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Mary Duffy was lying in bed half-asleep on the morning after her breast cancer surgery in February when a group of white-coated strangers filed into her hospital room.

Without a word, one of them - a man - leaned over Ms. Duffy, pulled back her blanket, and stripped her nightgown from her shoulders.

Weak from the surgery, Ms. Duffy, 55, still managed to exclaim, "Well, good morning," a quiver of sarcasm in her voice.

But the doctor ignored her. He talked about carcinomas and circled her bed like a presenter at a lawnmower trade show, while his audience, a half-dozen medical students in their 20's, stared at Ms. Duffy's naked body with detached curiosity, she said.

Read the New York Times article: In the Hospital, a Degrading Shift From Person to Patient

Comments

[Hippocrates]

Great to see that NYTimes is seriously following up on this topic. Few other industries can afford to ignore customer service in the same way.

A statement of principles for Patient-Centered Healthcare has been recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and we blogged about it here:
http://www.healthvoices.com/blog/hippocrates/2005/11/04/j_g_i_m_vision_of_patient_centered_primary_care