What do Patients Need?

Many physicians have asked this question countless times in exasperation. What do patients need?! It seems when you’re nice to patients, they take you for granted and call you at odd hours for the most trivial of issues. Conversely, when you are not so nice, they call you a snob.

What do patients really need? Can you ever please them? Do they need treatment in the form of drugs, counseling, surgery, physiotherapy, or a combination of all these? Or is there something deeper that they need?

I usually tell physicians that the most basic need of any customer/patient is EMPATHETIC HELP! You certainly cannot cater to their every want but you will do well to offer them emphatic help.

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Usually, patients cannot do much for themselves. When they come to the hospital, they often feel like crap and cannot make themselves better. This helplessness may be physical, mental or emotional. My little daughter’s dictionary says to help is ‘to make it easier for someone to do something, by doing part of their work or by giving them advice or an object they need’.

Empathy means the ability to identify with and understand somebody else’s feelings or difficulties.

Empathetic help therefore means the ability to do something, give something or give advice from a point of understanding to a patient. For example, when a patient comes in vomiting all over the couch, empathetic help means providing relief and cleaning up without being rude or impolite. It also means a woman who is in labor is not screamed at or slapped on the laps. Rather counseling and some form of acceptable pain relief is offered. In addition, empathetic help means putting yourself in the patient’s shoes and giving the treatment and attention you would expect to receive if you were a patient.

The components of empathetic help are:

—  Friendliness:

The act of being nice to patients and being receptive to their queries

—  Understanding:

This is having the right attitude towards patients based on your ability to interpret or infer their feelings.

—  Fairness:

This means providing a balanced and impartial service to patients regardless of their gender, color, creed, ethnicity, religion or political leaning.

—  Confidentiality:

This means not divulging the patient’s medical history or condition to unauthorized persons.

—  Information:

This involves providing facts and data about the patient’s condition in terms they can understand so that they can make informed choices.

—  Control:

This is allowing patients or their guardians to make informed decisions at each point in their treatment process.

—  Options & Alternatives:

This implies providing equally beneficial treatment choices to patients as well as directing patients to another service provider when you cannot manage their specific health issues.

Beyond the aesthetics and facilities of your hospital, empathetic help is a culture that your hospital must imbibe. To remain competitive, you should learn it and train your staff to give it.

So, when next you get exasperated by your patients and wonder what they actually need, read through this article. That way you can keep on providing quality healthcare with a smile.

Cheers!