How often do patients feel frustrated by healthcare staff who perhaps forget the little things that matter to a patient, like the use of the person’s preferred name that can affect their experience of being in hospital?
Patients expect nurses and doctors to be highly trained in order to provide the best treatment and care for them in times of ill health or sickness. However, many patients express discontent on not being involved in the process, or feeling that their concerns are dismissed by staff.
Dr Kate Granger, who sadly passed away in July 2016, launched the awards in England in 2014 to recognise people and organisations that have delivered care with compassion at its heart. Famous for commencing the #hellomynameis twitter campaign, following her own negative experience of being a patient in hospital. The Kate Granger Foundation now, with the backing of HIMSS Europe recognise outstanding patient care in the European Kate Granger Awards for Compassionate Care.
The Galway Clinic Nursing team have for the past four years worked tirelessly to create a compassionate and person-centred culture that focuses on the patient and their family. Paying attention to the small things that matter to patients as well as the clinical information needed to aid the person in their recovery and return to normal daily activity. As part of the process, the Galway Clinic Nursing team created a bespoke electronic record to highlight to all professionals reading the patients chart, what was important to the patient. This includes:
The patient’s preferred name
What matters to the patient
Personal preferences about care and treatment
Using language that is respectful and supporting the patient’s involvement in the care process.
The Galway Clinic is the only hospital in Europe to have achieved HIMMS Level 6 for their use of advanced technology and the creation of an integrated electronic patient record.
The Director of Nursing Ms Sinead Hanley said “I am overcome with pride in the team in receiving this well-deserved award. It may appear simple but nurses can often be over-focused on the medical condition and miss important information about who and what matters. We want our patients to experience a world class standard of care which has compassion at its heart.”
The award was presented at a ceremony in Helsinki, Finland on 12th June 2019.