A small Indian hospital is up against the giants of corporatization, where it is all about size and efficiency. One of the most important competitive advantages that a small hospital has is the ability to build a patient-centric culture—to give a commitment to delivering personalized, compassionate care that treats every patient as an individual valuable person, not just another case file. Small hospitals can distinguish themselves through the fostering of shared values: empathy, integrity, and service to the community. They can achieve a good reputation and success in a competitive environment.

Why Shared Values Are So Important in Health Care

Shared values are the central beliefs in the organization that drive its behaviour. They guide everything from daily interactions to long-term strategic decisions. In a healthcare setting, they are particularly important because they directly influence the quality of the care patients receive. In small hospitals, where personal connections and community ties often run deep, instilling and nurturing patient-centered values is not just beneficial; it’s essential for survival and success.

In a patient-centric culture, patients are treated with dignity, respect, and compassion. This translates to knowing the distinctive needs of patients—that they are heard, valued, and taken care of in this healthcare journey. This approach is important not only from a moral and ethical point of view but also in securing better health outcomes, high patient satisfaction, and building strong patient loyalty.

Building a Patient-Centric Culture

Empathy at the Core: Compassionate Care in Action

Empathy is the linchpin for a patient-centric culture. It means putting oneself in the patient’s shoes and trying to understand what their feelings, fears, and concerns are, so one can react with authentic care and concern. Karuna Hospital in Kerala is the best example of a small hospital where empathy has been woven into the very fabric of its culture.

The hospital employees are continuously trained on empathetic communication to learn how to listen to a patient keenly and respond to their worries with sensitivity and show emotional support. This culture of empathy is applied in all the hospital engagements, starting when the patients come in through the door to the after-discharge follow-up calls.

The leadership in the hospital encourages going the extra mile at Karuna, where staff can whisper an encouraging word in the middle of a painful procedure or where the family is involved and informed in each step of patient care. All this empathetic approach has earned the hospital a loyal patient base, where many have chosen Karuna over its larger, more impersonal facilities.

Integrity in Care: Building Trust Through Transparency

Another important value, in creating a culture that is patient-centered, is honesty. This needs to be operationalized through transparency and ethical operations in any dealing with patients. The group of hospitals known as Narayana Health is characterized by the value of integrity. Reputation is founded on the transparency of pricing that the hospital conducts. The patient is generally informed of the charges for various treatments before they are administered.

This transparency goes as far as the treatment plan, where doctors try to explain diagnoses, options, and what can be expected in a language any patient can understand.

Dr. Devi Shetty, in an interview, makes it clear: the integrity that he believes is due from physicians is not only towards following the rules but towards the patient. The commitment toward being truthful and transparent has built a climate of trust at Narayana Health, making it so successful—not forgetting that it is within a country where costs in health care services are a burden to most families.

Community Service: Establishing Connections and Giving Back

Community service is often a natural extension of patient-centric values that are at the core of small hospitals. However, service will go beyond being mere health providers; small hospitals can very well be part and parcel of the very communities they serve. On community service as well, St. John’s Medical College Hospital in Bangalore is a reflection of how commitment in this respect can go a long way in making a big impact on a hospital.

St. John’s conducts free health camps, vaccination drives, and free education programs on a regular basis in remote areas.

More than render medical care, they forge bonds, understand special health care needs of the community, and improve lives. These hospital initiatives outreaches are facilitated by a sizeable complement of volunteers committed to the said purpose, many of whom are aspiring medical students, staff among others, and zealously believe in the hospital mission towards service.

Through community service, St. John’s has built up and instilled confidence in the public, who counts themselves as stakeholders of the health provider. This cannot be quantified but can only be appreciated with returning patients and referrals; hence, factors that will dictate the hospital operations to viability.

Making Patient-Centric Values a Reality in Daily Operations

To really inculcate patient-centric values at the very core of a hospital, such values should be visible at every level of how the hospital functions, right from the way in which a patient is greeted at the reception to the care extended after discharge.

1. Patient-Centered Communication

Being patient-centered in communication is at the root of patient-centered care. Sankara Nethralaya is a hospital situated in Chennai and claims itself to be centric in respect to the patient. This hospital offers language support so that people from various linguistic backgrounds are able to communicate effectively with health workers as well as with anyone else. Such a focus on clear and compassionate communication prevents misunderstanding, increases patient satisfaction, and makes the patients feel respected and heard.

2. Postcare

Patient care does not stop when patients leave the hospital. Most small hospitals that focus on patient-centric care ensure that the relationship with the patient continues by providing the desired personalized follow-up care. This may be done through follow-up calls to check on recovery, reminders for follow-up appointments, or providing patients with direct contact information in case they have concerns after discharge.

Such an amount of personalized care does not only enhance the health outcomes but also reinforces the value attached and care expressed to the patient.

3. Set Up a Supportive Environment

The interior in the hospital will also help to put in place a patient-centric culture. Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune is patient-friendly and soothing right from the entrance. Here everything is customer delight, starting from waiting lounges to privacy-enabling patient rooms. Staff is also encouraged to receive patients with a smile, offering their help at every possible turn, as part of care and compassion.

End-Note: Values That Are Patient-Centered

In the competitive setting of Indian healthcare, small hospitals have a golden opportunity to very especially differentiate themselves: developing a culture around patient centrality. Small hospitals can be established to help in developing values of empathy, integrity, and service to the community in all of their operations so that their relation with the patients and communities become strong and long-lasting. Based on trust and mutual respect, these relationships are the cause of success for small healthcare providers: they enable one to survive in an environment where personal relations and sympathetic care can turn the tide.

Prof. Dr. Prahlada N. B
23 August 2024
Chitradurga. 

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