UNMET NEED HIGHLIGHTED IN THIS POST: A healthcare provider’s lack of positivity in patient interactions can heighten feelings of patient disempowerment, particularly during a critical medical episode. This can negatively impact both patient outcomes and patient satisfaction.

Healthcare provider positivity can be a key to improving a patient’s feeling of empowerment. Having a severe, acute condition is a profile in powerlessness.  You’re living your life and all of a sudden you and your family are swept up in a whirlwind of symptoms, diagnoses, blood pressure readings, and endless phone calls to doctors.  You try to control the situation but it eludes you.  My second post was going to be about my hospitalization two years ago but now I have a more immediate topic to write about, my father-in-law Seymour’s tumble down a medical rabbit hole

Seymour is a freak of nature and I mean that in a complimentary way.  A few months short of 90, he still manages a real estate law firm with a couple of attorneys working for him.  His work ethic would shame those a third of his age.  The political arguments that emanate from his mouth are like a category 5 hurricane with his son-in-law often only able to muster flimsy defenses against them.

Acrobatics in the Cardiac Ward

During my wife’s and my recent visit the Sunday before Labor Day, he was in the condition you’d expect (or even better) for an almost nonagenarian who had received a stent a few days earlier. He was putting in several hours of work each day and sharing detailed commentary on the new rent laws that went into effect in New York State earlier this summer.  However, less than 24 hours later, this force of nature had been transformed into a helpless creature. He had dangerously low blood pressure and six Labor Day calls to the on-call cardiologist at the facility where he received his stent yielded nothing.  On call my ass!

That Tuesday, after throwing up blood and slurring his speech, my mother-in-law finally spoke to his cardiologist and he said that Seymour should get to a nearby hospital stat.  The hospital gave him multiple transfusions of blood and still his hemoglobin wandered southward to perilously low levels.  He was bleeding heavily and no one knew from where.  Seymour then became an acrobat in a deadly serious circus, walking the high-wire between taking Plavix to prevent restenosis of his previously clogged artery and possibly bleeding to death or ceasing the drug and running the risk of a heart attack.  Pick one.

The bleeding had been stabilized but from where it came remained a mystery although Plavix was still a no-no when my wife and I visited Seymour in the hospital last Friday.

St. Anthony’s Welcome Appearance

Into this swamp of confusion and dread, who should appear but St. Anthony?  No, not that St. Anthony, patron saint of lost things.  The St. Anthony I’m talking about is a patient transport guy in the hospital that grew up in Jamaica.  Man, does he have a golden voice and he’s not shy about showing it off to patients and their families.  In fact, his group once opened for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at Giants Stadium. 

But forget about his voice.  What really grabs you is the positive energy that pours out of him.  Even in the bleakest situation, you can’t help but feel positive even if just for a nanosecond.  St. Anthony injects a small dose of hope and humanity where there is none. And even momentary hope provides some power to the patient by temporarily taking away the power of awful circumstances to screw with your mind.   That, my friends, is St. Anthony’s miracle.

Positivity in Patient Care: A Must-Have

Why is it important for the people who work in a hospital – and healthcare providers in general – to exude positivity?  Well, this probably isn’t news to you but positivity is contagious. 

But it goes further than that.  We’re talking improved outcomes.  According to Johns Hopkins’ website, “People with a family history of heart disease who also had a positive outlook were one-third less likely to have a heart attack or other cardiovascular event within five to 25 years than those with a more negative outlook.” Norman Vincent Peale was onto something when he wrote The Power of Positive Thinking 67 years ago.

Finally, not to be too mercenary, but hospitals that have a positivity deficit are leaving money on the table.  When the all-important patient satisfaction ratings are low, that affects the amount of Medicare reimbursement a hospital gets.  And all the slick marketing campaigns for a hospital are for naught if the word on the street is that the hospital sucks.  And, oh yeah, a good patient experience reduces the incidence of malpractice suits according to a plastic surgeon friend of ours.

So what can hospitals do to make sure their staff gives off better vibes?  Dr. Leslie Kernisan argues in The Health Care Blog that hospital administrators need to remove some of the barriers that make life tough for those that work in a hospital.  She contends that doing this will make these folks happier and more energetic, leading to greater empathy and positivity in their interactions with patients and their family. Yes, that costs money and time but it’s very likely worth it.  I believe St. Anthony would agree.  And Seymour’s doing better, thank you (fingers crossed).