How The Human Connection Improves Healthcare | Anthony Orsini | TEDxGrandCanyonUniversity
Summary
TLDRIn this moving speech, a doctor recounts a pivotal moment that shifted his view of healthcare from a purely scientific field to one rooted in compassion and human connection. He emphasizes the importance of patient-doctor rapport and trust, which are often overlooked in today's efficiency-driven medical system. The speaker advocates for a return to personalized care, where doctors take the time to know their patients as people, leading to better health outcomes. He also encourages patients to initiate personal conversations with their healthcare providers to foster a more meaningful doctor-patient relationship.
Takeaways
- 👨⚕️ The speaker's aspiration to be a doctor was sparked by a fascination with the human body and the life-saving capabilities of medicine.
- 🚑 A critical incident involving a newborn's death shifted the speaker's perspective on healthcare, highlighting the importance of compassion in medicine.
- 😢 The emotional toll of delivering tragic news was profound, even for an admired senior physician, demonstrating the human side of medical practice.
- 📈 Despite advancements in medical technology and procedures, patient satisfaction is often lacking due to a perceived lack of compassion from healthcare providers.
- 📊 Survey results indicated that a significant portion of patients feel rushed during appointments and believe their questions are not fully answered.
- 📉 High rates of professional burnout and suicide among doctors suggest a system that prioritizes tasks over patient care.
- 🤝 The speaker emphasizes that medicine is fundamentally about human interaction and the ability to convey compassion.
- 💡 Building trust with patients starts with being relatable and getting to know them on a personal level.
- 👂 Listening and communication are key to providing good healthcare; doctors should take time to understand their patients.
- 👨👩👧👦 Patients can help improve their healthcare experience by expecting and fostering personal connections with their healthcare providers.
- 🔙 The speaker calls for a return to a more compassionate and patient-centered approach to healthcare.
Q & A
What was the speaker's initial fascination with medicine?
-The speaker was fascinated by the human body and the life-saving procedures performed by doctors, which they observed on TV and in movies since they were six years old.
What event during the speaker's medical training changed their perspective on healthcare?
-The event that changed the speaker's perspective was the tragic death of a newborn baby and the way the senior physician, Dr. Cunningham, delivered the news to the baby's father.
How did Dr. Cunningham's reaction to the baby's death affect the speaker?
-Dr. Cunningham's emotional reaction and his advice to the speaker to never deliver news in such a blunt manner made the speaker realize that medicine is about human interaction and conveying compassion.
What are some statistics mentioned in the script about patient dissatisfaction with healthcare?
-71% of patients felt a lack of compassion from their doctor, 73% felt rushed and left with unanswered questions, and 39% had such a bad interaction that they changed providers.
What is the current state of professional burnout among doctors and nurses according to the script?
-Professional burnout among doctors and nurses is at an all-time high, with doctors having the highest rate of suicide of any profession.
What does the speaker suggest is the key to improving healthcare?
-The speaker suggests that improving healthcare is not about spending more money but rather getting back to what really matters: the human-to-human interaction and compassion in patient-doctor relationships.
How can a medical provider build trust with their patients according to the speaker?
-A medical provider can build trust by being relatable, getting to know their patients on a personal level, and building rapport during each interaction.
What advice does the speaker give to doctors who are feeling rushed?
-The speaker advises doctors who are feeling rushed to stop, recognize their task-oriented behavior, and take time to get to know their patients to allow natural compassion to flow.
What can patients do to ensure they receive the best healthcare?
-Patients can control their healthcare by expecting a personal connection and initiating conversations with their doctors about personal topics to build a trusting relationship.
What is the speaker's mother's advice that he applies to his medical practice?
-The speaker's mother advised him to be nice to everyone and get to know them on a personal level, which he interprets as being hard to fire your best friend, implying the importance of building strong relationships.
What is the speaker's vision for the future of healthcare?
-The speaker envisions a future where healthcare returns to being about a trusting relationship between two relatable people with the common goal of the patient's health.
Outlines
🏥 The Turning Point in Medical Practice
The speaker shares their journey from childhood fascination with medicine to a pivotal moment in their medical career. They recount a tragic event in 1996 where they were called to treat a critically ill newborn. Despite their best efforts, the baby passed away. The speaker describes the emotional aftermath, including the senior physician's abrupt and cold delivery of the news to the baby's father, which deeply affected the speaker. This experience led the speaker to understand that medicine is not just about science and technology, but fundamentally about human interaction and compassion. The speaker reflects on the current state of healthcare, noting the high costs and the dissatisfaction of patients, often feeling rushed and lacking compassion from their providers.
📈 Restoring Compassion in Healthcare
The speaker discusses the current healthcare system's issues, such as increased documentation, electronic medical records, and efficiency demands leading to professional burnout among healthcare providers. They highlight a survey revealing that many patients feel a lack of compassion from their doctors and often leave medical appointments unsatisfied. The speaker emphasizes the importance of building trust and rapport with patients, suggesting that doctors should take the time to get to know their patients on a personal level. They also advise patients on how to engage with their healthcare providers to ensure a more personal and effective healthcare experience. The speaker concludes by urging a return to a more compassionate and patient-centered approach in healthcare.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Compassion
💡Healthcare System
💡Patient-Doctor Relationship
💡Burnout
💡Documentation
💡Rapport
💡Task-Oriented
💡Patient-Oriented
💡Communication
💡Personal Connection
💡Efficiency
Highlights
Aspiring to be a doctor from a young age due to fascination with the human body.
Entering medical school with a deep desire to learn about the science of medicine.
A pivotal experience in 1996 with a critically ill newborn that changed the speaker's perspective on healthcare.
The tragic death of a baby despite all medical efforts.
Learning the importance of delivering tragic news compassionately from Dr. Cunningham.
The realization that medicine is fundamentally about human interaction.
The high costs of healthcare in the United States and the increasing dissatisfaction among patients.
Statistics showing patients often feel a lack of compassion from their doctors.
The impact of feeling rushed during medical consultations on patient satisfaction.
The high rate of doctor-patient turnover due to negative interactions.
The increasing focus on documentation and efficiency over patient care.
Professional burnout among healthcare providers at an all-time high.
The importance of patient-doctor connection for better treatment outcomes.
Advice for doctors to be relatable and build trust with patients.
The significance of personal connection in healthcare as advised by the speaker's mother.
The necessity for doctors to get to know their patients on a personal level.
Encouraging doctors to take time to connect with patients despite feeling rushed.
Patients can control their healthcare by expecting a personal connection.
Suggesting patients share personal information to build rapport with doctors.
The choice to move towards a more personal and trusting healthcare system.
The conclusion that healthcare is most effective when it's about a trusting relationship between two relatable people.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Applause]
i wanted to be a doctor since i was six
years old
the human body fascinated me i watched
in awe
on tv and in the movies as doctors
performed these life-saving procedures
i entered medical school with a deep
desire to learn everything that i could
about the science of medicine
and how the human body worked but then
something happened to me
that made me realize that health care
was really broken
and gave me a new perspective on what
medicine was really about
it was the summer of 1996 i was just
completing my training
when i received a late evening phone
call from a desperate physician
to pick up an extremely sick newborn you
see the baby had a condition and his
only chance of survival
was to be placed on a heart lung bypass
machine immediately
when the team and i arrived we found a
critically ill baby
desperately clinging to life the parents
gave their son a quick kiss on the cheek
and off we went into the ambulance
lights and sirens blasting
by everyone's estimate there wasn't much
time
the ventilator was struggling to keep
the blood oxygenation levels up
and despite everything that we can do
the blood pressure and heart rate
continuously dropped
by the time we got back to my hospital
we were in full resuscitation mode
including cpr
but sadly time ran out and the baby died
it wasn't much after that that the
charred nurse informed me that the
father had followed the ambulance and
was anxiously waiting for me in the
waiting room
completely unaware that his son had just
died
now the senior physician in charge that
night
was someone that i greatly admired let's
for the sake of confidentiality call him
dr cunningham tim as everyone knew him
was the smartest kindest and most
compassionate doctor i had ever known
the kind of doctor that i wanted to be
like someday
i saw that tragedy that night as an
opportunity to learn a life lesson
you see although i was very confident in
my clinical abilities as a doctor
the thought of telling someone tragic
news still scared me to death
i mean how do you tell somebody that
their baby died
i thought who better to learn from than
dr cunningham
so together tim and i walked down the
hallway towards the waiting room we
opened up the door to find a father who
was frantically pacing back
and forth and then what happened next
was and still is decades later
inexplicable to me this kind
compassionate doctor that i had grown to
admire
simply blurted out my name's dr
cunningham
your baby died
well the father he went crazy i remember
he punched a hole in the wall he knocked
the table lamp
over and he made a scream and a sound
that i had never heard before
after a few moments of discussion and
what seemed like hours of crying i took
the father to see his son
i spent a few minutes with him and then
i left him alone
when i walked back out into the hallway
dr cunningham was waiting for me
he grabbed me by my shoulders and he
pulled me in really close
and i can see that there were tears in
his eyes
and he said to me in this quivering firm
voice
do you see what i just did don't ever
do that and he turned around walked down
the hallway onto the fire escape and
spent the next 20 minutes crying
you see i realized that night medicine's
not about science or technology
medicine's not just about how smart or
skilled you are as a physician
it's not even about how kind you are as
a person
at its core medicine is about that human
to human interaction between a patient
and a doctor it's about the ability to
convey your compassion
regardless of whether you're delivering
tragic news or you're meeting a patient
for the first time
but somehow we got away from that in the
united states alone we spend trillions
of dollars each year on health care and
the costs are steadily increasing
advances in medicine have led to
state-of-the-art diagnostic tools
and life-saving procedures and drugs
that were unimaginable just a few
decades ago
yet studies still show that a
significant number of patients
are still unhappy with their medical
provider
in a recent internet survey that we
performed
71 of patients who responded stated that
they often felt a lack of compassion
from their doctor
73 percent stated that they frequently
left the hospital
or doctor's office feeling rushed and
without all their questions being
answered
and an amazing 39 percent stated that
they had such a bad interaction
that it led them to change providers
the system's just not working medicine
has become more and more about increased
documentation electronic medical records
and maximized efficiency doctors and
nurses
are being asked to do more and more work
in less and less time
professional burnout among doctors and
nurses is at an
all-time high and did you know
that doctors now have the highest rate
of suicide of any profession
this has unknowingly and unwillingly
caused us to become task oriented
instead of what we should be
patient oriented the good news is
that together you and i we can begin to
fix health care right now
not by spending loads of money but by
simply getting back
to what really matters did you know that
a patient
who feels a connection with their doctor
even if they met them for the first time
is more likely to take their medicine
more likely to follow up and yes have
better treatment outcomes
that's why a medical provider's ability
to communicate and build trust
is more important than ever so as a
doctor
how do i begin to build that trust well
it starts off by first
being a relatable person and a doctor
second
you know my mother used to say to me all
the time she used to say anthony
it's hard to fire your best friend no
matter how successful i became she'd
constantly remind me she'd say
don't forget it's hard to fire your best
friend
i used to think why is my mother always
so afraid i'm going to get fired
it wasn't until much later that i
realized what she was saying
in her own way my mother was telling me
to be nice to everyone
but more importantly she was telling me
to get to know everyone
not just on a professional basis but on
a personal level as well
it's so important for doctors and nurses
to take just a few minutes to get to
know their patients each and every time
and build rapport
because once rapport is built trust will
follow
systems they're designed for the masses
but medicine only works when doctors can
treat patients
as people one at a time
good health care starts and ends with
good communication
so if you're a doctor and you're feeling
rushed maybe becoming task oriented just
stop
recognize it sit down put your laptop
aside and just
get to know your patient imagine that
you're the patient
put yourself in their shoes and your
natural compassion will just flow
because
once you can connect as two relatable
people
or as my mother would say as best
friends
that's where medicine works its best
now you might be asking what can i do as
a patient to make sure i get the very
best health care
well the most important thing is to know
that your health care is more important
than any system you control your
healthcare because you
can control the conversation it's okay
to expect that personal connection
with every doctor or nurse that you meet
even if you met them for the first time
so here's the secret
next time you go to the doctor or the
hospital unless it's an emergency
don't talk medicine share something
personal first
if your doctor seems preoccupied or
rushed
that's okay ask them how their day's
going
tell them about a recent vacation you
went on and asked them if they've had a
recent one
ask them if they saw the game yesterday
i'll be willing to bet that if you do
that
you'll see your doctor relax perhaps
even smile
once you can connect and build that
commonality
the conversation will go so much better
we have a choice we can continue on this
path
to impersonal health care or we can get
back to what really matters
a trusting relationship between two
relatable people with one goal in mind
your health thank you
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