The Heart of Healthcare
By Rodney D. Reider
Making regular rounds to talk with hospital staff and patients is a regular practice of mine. I so enjoy the candid conversations and impressions that this provides, that I’ve continued the practice of making rounds even when I’m interviewing for a position.
When I’m considering a job, I arrive a few days early and round the hospital to get a feel for the culture, to see how friendly the staff are, and gain a sense of the community’s relationship with the hospital. I am continually inspired and impressed by the people I meet as I make my way through the hospital.
Providing care. Building community.
At one hospital I visited, I stopped by the cafeteria, got some food, and sat with an elderly gentleman who was sitting alone. I asked him how long he had been at the hospital, and how things are going for him. He shared that his wife was in one of the hospital beds. He went on to tell me that he and his wife have been in this same city, going to this same hospital for their entire lives. He told me stories about the time he had to go to the ER, his wife’s hip operation several years ago, and an entire lifetime of experiences at this hospital. What most impacted me was that he remembered the names of the doctors and nurses who had cared for him and his family.
I came in contact with someone who has delivered all three of her children at the same hospital. One of her babies, born five weeks early, received care in the NICU for several weeks. When she had another premature baby a few years later, she was greeted by name by those same NICU nurses who asked about her other children. She also was an antepartum patient for three weeks prior to the birth of one of her babies due to a serious pregnancy complication, and befriended many of the nurses, doctors, and support services staff who cared for her. Even though this hospital is not the one most conveniently located to her home, her family continues to choose this hospital for their care because of the relationships formed there.
As I make my rounds, patients’ family members will often tell me about how great the care has been. Sometimes, I hear stories about the care someone’s spouse or parent received at a hospital decades before. The families, as well as the patients, make connections with the medical staff that last. For this reason, the community sees their relationship to their hospitals as long-standing and long-serving.
