Doctors Who Act with Humanistic Love Improve Health Care, Reduce Malpractice Suits; National Love Your Patients Day is Set for Feb. 7
National Love Your Patients Day, Feb. 7, is dedicated to improving health care in the United States by increasing awareness about the benefits, to patients and professionals alike, of providing health care that is compassionate and humanistic -- not just clinically excellent. Doctors and other health care professionals practicing humanistic medicine find that they typically deliver higher-quality health care -- and dramatically reduce their risk and incidence of malpractice lawsuits because satisfied patients are less likely to litigate.
Frederick, MD (PRWEB) Febuary 1, 2005 -- Doctors, nurses, paramedics and all
other health care professionals will be giving a prescription...to themselves on
Feb. 7 -- a prescription for compassion, respect and humility as part of the
first annual National Love Your Patients Day.
National Love Your Patients
Day -- conceived by Dr. Scott Diering, an emergency room physician at Washington
County Hospital in Hagerstown, Md., and an assistant professor of surgery at the
University of Maryland -- is dedicated to improving health care in the United
States by increasing awareness about the benefits, to patients and professionals
alike, of providing health care that is compassionate and humanistic -- not just
clinically excellent.
"This day was born out of the need for a more
compassionate system of health care in this country. We need to restore the
heart and humanity of medicine," Diering says. "We're reminding doctors and
other health professionals, whose jobs are increasingly influenced by technology
and insurance companies, about what is most important in health care: patients,
and their values and dignity."
Diering adds that doctors and other health
care providers "all too often treat diseases rather than care for
patients."
"We lose sight of the human condition," he says. "We forget
our patients' suffering, their personhood. We have responsibilities to each
other, and these include offering a compassionate, respectful
presence."
A large body of published medical research points to the
conclusion that showing humanistic love - sometimes known as "agape," from the
Greek word for selfless love -- in health care significantly improves patient
health -- and enhances healing in many cases. Patients also say they're happier
with the care they receive and more satisfied with their practitioners,
according to the research.
Doctors and other providers practicing
humanistic medicine find that they typically deliver higher-quality health care
with ease and enjoyment than when they remain emotionally aloof. This reduces
burnout, the published studies show.
Acting with selfless love is great
for professionals' practices too, the research suggests. Doctors and other
providers who practice with agape dramatically reduce their risk and incidence
of malpractice lawsuits because satisfied patients are less likely to
litigate.
The American Medical Association says nearly 20 states are
facing malpractice crises, with premiums having risen by 50 percent or more in
the past two years -- by more than 70 percent in the past two years in Maryland.
The group cites skyrocketing litigation costs.
The American Insurance
Association, a trade group, says malpractice litigation is costly not only
because judgments can be very large, but also because many doctors practice
"defensive medicine" involving unnecessary but costly procedures to avoid
lawsuits.
"Practicing with agape is not psychobabble," says Diering, who
is also the author of "Love Your Parents! Improving Patient Satisfaction with
Essential Behaviors That Enrich the Lives of Patients and Professionals" (Blue
Dolphin Publishing, 2004) and founder of a health care institute of the same
name (www.loveyourpatients.org). "Published medical research shows
that acting with agape love toward one's patients -- that is, showing empathy
and understanding, openness and interest, forgiveness and compassion -- leads to
many benefits for both the patient and health care provider."
Diering's
critically acclaimed "Love Your Parents!" book is an easy-to-read guide --
conversationally written to appeal to patients and health care professionals
alike -- that shows why acting with compassion, respect and humility is easy,
and improves health care. In simple, straightforward language, the book shows
how caregivers can readily develop skills of compassion, respect and humility --
skills that the medical literature says are essential for humane medical
care.
The book also critiques how clinically excellent doctors, nurses
and other caregivers are only doing half their job when they fail to act with
humanistic love. And the book reviews published papers and studies that
scientifically demonstrate how and why behaving with humanistic love makes good
clinical sense.
The Love Your Patients! institute is dedicated to sharing
the simple yet powerful ways of helping doctors and all health professionals act
with love.
For more information about National Love Your Patients Day or
any aspect of improving health care, contact the Love Your Patients! institute
at (301) 620-1588 or e-mail protected from spam bots, or log on to the
institute's Web site at www.loveyourpatients.org.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb203329.htm