HOSPITALS
He must have been on drugs last night," said one nurse of a
colleague. "He couldn't even read a chart."
Who could sit on such on such a juicy (though alarming) nugget of
hospital gossip? Well, the nurse who passed it on should have,'at least
for a few extra minutes. Trouble is, she said it in a public elevator,
where any-one--including patients and visitors--could hear it.
Such inappropriate comments are all too common in hospital
elevators, report researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. They
warn that loose lips can sink patients' trust in their doctors, violate
patient confidentiality, and add to the worry of already-stressed
visitors.
Penn bioethicist Peter Ubel, M.D., sent a team of students out to
cruise five hospitals incognito, keeping an ear attuned to devator
chatter. Out of 259 rides where two or more hospital employees rode
together, 14 percent included an ill-advised comment, Ubel and colleagues
report in the American Journal of Medicine (Vol. 99, No. 2).
The remarks fell into four broad categories:
o Half of the faux pas involved violations of patient
confidentiality. Personnel directly mentioned a patient's name or
provided info that would reveal his identity to others ("The guy who runs
company X"). The major offenders: doctors.
o Unprofessional remarks, mostly from nurses, raised doubts about
the speaker's ability to care for patients. Sample dialogue:
Nurse 1: "You just can't assist on those procedures if you're this
sick."
Nurse 2: "I have no choice, I have to work."
o Some comments undermine trust in the hospital's quality of care.
One administrator told a colleague, in a crowded elevator, that a
patient's death "was the hospital's fault." Other conversations, needless
to say, came to a grinding halt.
o Derogatory remarks--like a snide reference to a well-dressed
patient as "Mister Christian Dior"--not only reflect poorly on health
care providers, but might worry visitors that their loved one will
receive poor care if workers don't like her.
Comments like these have led many hospitals to install signs in
elevators warning employees not to reveal sensitive information. But
inappropriate comments are more than a public relations issue. Since
studies show that doctor-patient interactions influence recovery, one
careless remark could undo some of the benefits of high-tech medicine.
Says Ubel: "People need to know that they can trust their
doctors."
CARTOON
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