Patient Care: Think Human Being!
Lying in a hospital bed feeling, sick, scared and helpless, the only comforting thought is supposed to be knowing that when you need something, a nurse is there to help you. You ring the call bell for assistance in going to the restroom and no one comes. You ring the bell again, and still no one comes. You ring it for the third time and a voice comes over the speaker, "I will be back in a few minutes, I have some things I have to finish up". You need to get out of bed right now, and you can’t do it alone. Now, on top of everything else, you’re feeling alone and frustrated. If someone doesn’t appear soon you will have to deal with embarrassment and shame. On top of being sick, look how many other things a patient may have to go through just because of something as simple as no one coming when you ring that call bell. A nurse’s job is not just medical. A good nurse must be empathetic and aware of the patient’s feelings and needs. Empathy is making sure the patient receives comfort, compassion, sensitivity, solace and understanding, qualities that are essential for any doctor, nurse, or caregiver. For patients, a lack of empathy from a physician or nurse can easily be interpreted as its antonym: hostility (Comor, 1997). Patients are human beings and need to be treated as such. It’s terrible to say, but in our society today, it is much too common to hear horror stories of people in a hospital who are treated more like a number or a diagnosis than a human being.
I chose to discuss the nurse’s role because in reality he or she normally spends the most time with the patient. It isn’t always the nurse who should uphold these standards of empathy. I just recently had an experience with my mother in which it was not the nurse who needed to show a little more compassion. My mother went to see her physician about two spots they had just found on her breast. The physician started immediately talking about a lumpectomy or a masectomy. He...