The following was submitted by Emma, a member of the Pts4Chg community. Thanks, Emma.
This is Jim. He spent 8 long weeks as an inpatient at the Red Deer Regional Hospital. Thankfully, the unit he was on allowed pet visitors. For Jim, this was patient centered care! Seeing his dog, Ming Ming, brought him such joy and the drive to do what he could to get home to her. Thank you Red Deer Regional Hospital for realizing pets are family too!
In the wake of President Trump’s recent travel ban, which prohibits individuals from seven countries from entering the United States, Canada has extended a helping hand. In particular, recognizing that some of these banned individuals are children requiring medical attention, these children may be obtaining the treatment they require in Canada.
As Eric Hoskins, Ontario’s Health Minister, states:
“Canada is a country that has always looked into ways it could reach out and support vulnerable people around the world.”
(Canada Will Offer Healthcare To Critically Ill Children Affected By Trump’s Muslim Ban)
With the Olympic games and the quest for medals now complete, the question some people may be asking is: What do athletes do with the medals they won? While it is true that many individuals are apt to place them in a special case for display, Piotr Malachowski, the Polish discus thrower, did something much different. Click here to read what he did with his silver medal.
In an online post, Sheila, a member of the Pts4Chg community, raises an important topic. How does one obtain assistance for oneself or others when it comes to health care? How does one
tactfully get help for yourself or a loved one, or even possibly someone we don’t know who is in the hospital and we see that he/she is not getting the care that the Dr. prescribed, such as meds being missed or denied, patient not being fed, etc. Sadly, only those who have a loved one who comes to visit, will get these issues fixed, but I have seen (too many times) meals delivered to people without a loved one there to feed them, which were just picked up and taken away when the dietitians came back to collect trays, no one to feed those who are the most sick and alone or help them get the care the Dr. prescribed. In my local hospital, those with visitors get the most care because then there are ‘witnesses’ to what did or did not happen. The ones who are alone are in a dangerously negligent position.
Any comments and suggestions relating to this topic are welcome.
If you will be in the Lethbridge area on May 27th, here is an event you may be interested in attending.
Searching for Closeness – Why Feelings Matter Most in Dementia Care
Presenter: Dr. David Sheard, CEO / Founder Dementia Care Matters
Interventions to Change Practice in Long Term Care Facilities
Presenter: Dr. Sienna Caspar, Assistant Professor, Therapeutic Recreation Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, U of L
Moral Distress
Presenter: Dr. Shannon Spenceley, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, U of L
Understanding the Role of the Male Caregiver
Presenter: Mr. Ryan Waldorf, MHSc (Nursing), RN; Instructor, Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, U of L
Learning How to be a Butterfly – The Butterfly Household Model of Care
Presenter: Dr. David Sheard
Click here for the Conference Registration Form.
Over 1250 acute or chronic pain patients participated in an online survey by Pain News Network and the International Pain Foundation that focused on hospital pain care. Based on the results obtained, many pain patients felt that the treatment they received from a hospital was far less than ideal. As one pain patient stated, “It’s so bad that I will not seek treatment in an ER or hospital unless I really feel like my life is in jeopardy. They do not get it, they do not listen, and they do not care.” Another individual wrote, “I refuse to go to ER. It will end up killing me because I know how sick I am, but I would rather die than deal with ignorant, condescending doctors and nurses.” To read more about this study’s findings, click here.
If you are looking for a new book to read and have an interest in how the humanity of patients and families can be maintained while under hospital care, you may wish to check out Through the Valley of Shadows by Samuel Morris Brown.
Using insights from cognitive psychology, Dr. Samuel Brown discusses new approaches to reduce suffering for patients and their families when they need high levels of care, including concrete strategies to apply before, during, and after a serious illness.
Click here to continue reading.
What would it be like to be an ICU nurse? Below is the introduction to a blog post that provides some insight into this question.
We received a MET call (Medical Emergency Team) from the general ward to immediately come and assist. The patient’s name was Mr. ‘Stevens’. He was 81 and was in our hospital due to severe exacerbations of COPD. He was in acute respiration distress and had a low blood pressure. There was no time to discuss whether he should come to the intensive care unit or not. Mr Stevens had never discussed this before with his doctor, nor with his sons and in this moment of distress, it was now an option for him. The only thing that was clear was that he wanted to be relieved of his shortness of breath, his pain and his anxiety. There was no chance to talk about the consequences of the decision to enter intensive care. The urgency of the situation forced him to just accept it.
However, in his eyes you could see that he had much to say… there were words that he couldn’t get out, things he wasn’t able to say when he arrived. We all knew this when we saw him coming in to our unit. We could see the emotion, bubbling under the surface, all the feelings he wanted to express, but couldn’t any longer, simply restrained by his utter weakness in the final hours of his life.
Click here to continue reading.
The above video – “The Difference Between Care and Caring” recently won a number of local and national awards, including Best in Show at Edmonton’s ACE Awards.
What an incredible night for the Royal Alexandra Hospital,” Andrew Otway, president and CEO of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation, said. “This was a video that really came together so beautifully and effectively because of the staff and leadership at the Royal Alex. We are so immensely proud of this hospital, the people who work here, and the difference they make each day.”
Click here to read more about the video and the family involved.
Negative relationships can exist between physicians and their presence can impact patient care. As Dr. Karthikesan explains, “The doctor-patient relationship paradigm depends closely on the doctor-doctor relationship. Bad and damaging cultures foster a hostile atmosphere that erodes trust, tarnishes good communication and promotes disrespect within the medical community. The role doctors play in harming each other ubiquitously affects the patient’s care, however unintentionally. The question becomes, how can the relationship between physicians be improved or as Karthikesan asks, “So what went wrong in the noblest of professions and how do we fix it?”
Click here to read the solutions proposed.
