Hello, my name is Nick.
Following last night’s #WeMDT chat on introductions hosted by @Salsa442 there was of course much focus on the amazing work and legacy that Dr Kate Granger has left us all via #HelloMyNameIs, simply amazing work showing what can be done selflessly for others.
@Salsa442 walked us through the journey of introductions as value to patients and the community sharing why it was important, you can find the discussion here, the discussion made it to “compassion”.
I wanted to go beyond 140 characters and talk about what compassion means to me and where I see it adding value to patients, following some of my interactions on the chat, I’m hoping a myth busting approach will do the trick, here goes:
Myth - #HelloMyNameIs demonstrates compassion
Well, it doesn’t, not on its own anyway. What I think Kate experienced and witnessed was a lack of compassion towards patients and found a simple, adoptable way to engage her healthcare peers in tweaking an act we all do in and out of healthcare every day. But if the adoption, branding and act of an introduction is all you do then you’ve completely, in my opinion, missed the point.
Myth - #HelloMyNameIs is an introduction
There’ve been many discussions about compassion, can you teach it, learn it, can it be drummed in or pressurised out of you, can it be measured? What #HelloMyNameIs enables healthcare professionals to do, in my opinion, is to reset the compassion barometer to max every time they meet a patient, a momentary pause, to focus on that patient’s needs AND carry those needs with them in every aspect of how they can help them during and beyond that face-to-face meeting. It’s a handy reminder and foundation for supporting that patient compassionately, not just an introduction.
Myth - Compassion costs nothing (cue really loud alarm bells)
Are your really loud alarm bells ringing? Compassion for patients goes way, way, way beyond how you engage face-to-face. Your compassion for patients is what should, in my opinion, drive you to ensure your patients get the very best you and “the system” can offer them. This compassion will mean on occasions challenging the status quo, striving to change how things work, making change happen on a small or large scale. We all know the struggle and resistance there is to change (To my knowledge the NHS is the only industry, market, sector that has a "change day"). So, whilst it might not cost any money to be compassionate, it can come at a cost in terms of your time, your energy and maybe more if those around you are threatened by where your compassion takes you, of course they should embrace and support your compassion!
Myth - #HelloMyNameIs is a social movement
What Kate experienced and witnessed drove her and continues to drive her widowed husband Chris to make a stand and give something seemingly simple but really impactful to the healthcare community, here in the UK and around the world. It is a social movement, adopted by people to make a change by the people and latterly supported by organisations within it. But, in my opinion, what Kate touched on in her short time with us in this capacity, was that “the system” is broken and that we the people, the health care professionals and the patients, are the only ones that can fix it and we can, we must, we should and we have a little bit. Surely we’ve known for years we are living longer, fatter and “iller” than ever before with more complex needs, this seems to have been a surprise to “The System”. So whilst #HelloMyNameIs is cited as a social movement it is in fact, in my opinion, the very start of a much bigger compassion based social movement to put your patients’ needs first and demand more to support you to support them.
I, presumptuously, think that if Kate had had more time with us she would have advocated that healthcare professionals use their compassion beyond the bedside to fix a system that is beyond creaking.
I've shared my opinion, I’d love to hear yours too.
Let’s not let the value #HelloMyNameIs has afforded healthcare professionals and patients stop at an introduction…
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@NRCUK
26 October 2016 17:25
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Thank you Philip for sharing your response. I agree and share your can of worms view, evidenced by and rejection within the workforce to it being lacking and the marmite response to the NHS England 6Cs that seems to have fizzled out long before it's value was achieved. I feel Kate's work should not only continue in under the guise of #HelloMyNameIs, but be seen as the lighting of the compassion touch paper to give people the strength to have those potentially costly conversations, actually putting the patient at the heart of care as we know the system rarely does. |
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@PhilipRABall
26 October 2016 17:08
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You have given us food for thought Nick which is no bad thing. I agree that #hellomynameis is not an indicator of compassion; a civil introduction is no indicator of an interest in one another and without compassion any introduction is likely to lead to a less than satisfactory interaction between the people involved. I am sure Kate Granger would have expected us to go beyond the introduction into a relationship where our human-ness is allowed to flourish. Many of the most satisfying times in my nursing career so far have come from sharing of who I am and my interests as I have discovered common ground with those in my care. This does require time and and an element of risk in terms of cost - personally as well as amounts of work achieved. That's said I'm not advocating a return to attitudes prevalent in my training where sitting and talking with patients was frowned upon. Indeed it is that kind of thinking and culture where #hellomynameis is the tin opener to the can, dare I say it, of worms. It is the contents of that can that we have to work with using them to maximise support for each other and for those in our care, letting it fuel our compassion and drive to improve what we do. A fancy name badge and a misunderstood application of ideas will do no one any good. Thanks Nick for taking this beyond the 140 characters; social movements can be a force for good; when we make the effort to go beyond a perfunctory hello, and instead see each interaction as a great opportunity to make someone's life better, then we see the difference. |
