Restoring Dignity in Healthcare: A Guide to Compassionate Care

By Harvey Max Chochinov

No one enters the healthcare profession intending to cause harm or come across as uncaring. In fact, most healthcare professionals understand that kindness and compassion are essential to providing excellent care to patients and their families. However, instances of insensitive or emotionally distressing experiences are all too common.

The Impact of Undignified Care

Patients may face situations that erode their sense of pride and personhood, ranging from minor annoyances to outright emotional assaults. These experiences can be as subtle as being kept waiting for an appointment or being referred to by a medical condition rather than their name. They can also be as jarring as being forced to wear a hospital bracelet that reduces them to a numerical code.

The consequences of undignified care can be long-lasting, affecting not only the patient’s well-being but also their trust in the healthcare system.

Dignity in Care: A Solution

Dignity in Care aims to equip healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care that prioritizes humanity and empathy. By focusing on the tone and humanity of care, healthcare providers can engage with patients in a thoughtful and meaningful way, satisfying their need to be seen and appreciated as “whole persons.”

As Sir William Osler so eloquently put it, “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” Dignity in Care applies this philosophy to all aspects of healthcare, recognizing that technical competency is only half the equation.

Learn How to Communicate with Compassion

This book will explore how the humanity of care can get overlooked and provide guidance on how to avoid this. You will learn how to communicate more effectively with patients, helping them feel not just cared for, but cared about. By adopting a more compassionate approach, healthcare providers can improve patient outcomes, enhance patient satisfaction, and restore dignity to the care they provide.

Product Details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: November 29, 2022
• Language: English
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 184
• ISBN-10: 0199380422
• ISBN-13: 978-0199380428