Question

What areas of our health could benefit from LESS medical intervention? What should be regulating this instead?

Answer 1

Ans) Less medical or type of non medical aspects:

1) Access: Accessibility and availability of both the hospital and the physician should be assured to all those who require health care.

2) Waiting: Waiting times for all services should be minimised. In most developing countries, the high demand for services often makes this a huge problem. Nevertheless, it has to be addressed effectively through continual review of patient responses and other data and using this feedback to make the necessary changes in systems.

3) Information: Patient information and instruction about all procedures, both medical and administrative, should be made very clear. Well trained patient counsellors form an effective link between the patient and the hospital staff and make the patient's experience better and the physicians' task much easier.

4) Administration: Check-in and check-out procedures should be ‘patient friendly’. For example, for in-patients, we have instituted a system of discharging patients in their rooms, eliminating the need for the patient or the family to go to another office or counter in the hospital and waiting there for a long time. This has been favourably received by patients.

5) Communication: Communicating with the patient and the family about possible delays is a factor that can avoid a lot of frustration and anxiety. The creation of a special ‘Patient Care Department’ with a full time Administrator has helped our institution significantly and has enhanced our interactions with patients and their families.

6) Ancillary Services: Other services such as communication, food, etc. should be accessible both to patients and to attending families.