Guest post by Thomas Dahlborg, chief financial officer and vice president of strategy for NICHQ (National Institute for Children's Health Quality), where he focuses on improving child health and well-being.
In my last post, I mentioned the recent opportunity I had to visit a number of well-respected healthcare organizations and meet with amazing servant leaders who are all striving to bring healthCARING back into the healthcare system.
I shared in that post the insights from a chief nursing officer relative to the importance of empathy in healthcare. Today I would like to highlight another discussion, this time with a brilliant physician and chief experience officer (who I will refer to as Dr. Jane Sloan) at a large healthcare institution with reach and impact both nationally and internationally.
It did not take long for Dr. Sloan and me to realize we shared not only many philosophies and a vision for healthCARING, but also a common language.
Many folks talk of patient experience, patient engagement and patient activation, but Dr. Sloan and I honed in on our shared focus on "relationship-centered care" and the importance of:
- Each member of the care team developing authentic relationships with their patients and families
- Healthcare leaders developing care models (healthCARING models) that position the care team, i.e., physicians, nurses, physician assistants, etc., to be whole and healthy themselves
- Structures, learnings, processes and financial drivers to enhance the relationship between care team and patient and family, rather than to create barriers.
Together we also noted that patient-centered care in and of itself is not enough.
>> Read the full commentary at HospitalImpact