The Antidote to Suffering: How Compassionate Connected Care Can Improve Safety, Quality, and Experience

Book excerpt: An indispensable guide to reducing the suffering―of patients and caregivers alike―and to improving healthcare delivery for all In our efforts to treat patients, cure illness, and manage institutions, healthcare professionals too often overlook the fundamental purpose everyone in the industry shares: to alleviate suffering. Press Ganey’s Chief Nursing Officer, Christina Dempsey, has worked everywhere in healthcare, from the ward floor to the hospital boardroom. She has also experienced the system as a patient and as a family member of a critically ill patient. In The Antidote to Suffering, this 30-year healthcare veteran and patient-experience thought leader argues that the key to improving healthcare is to reduce the suffering—physical, psychological, and emotional—of patients and caregivers alike through Compassionate Connected CareTM. Drawing on her 360-degree perspective, Dempsey offers a comprehensive, detailed, evidence-based plan that addresses the clinical, operational, cultural, and behavioral dimensions of care that every patient and caregiver experiences, in every setting. When suffering decreases, Dempsey argues, outcomes improve for patients and those who care for them. A virtuous cycle takes hold, leading to increases in morale, loyalty, and productivity and results in a culture that drives quality, safety, and value. It paves the path for creating a new national healthcare culture—one that values compassion, fosters efficiency, and drives innovation The Antidote to Suffering is the first book to explore the pervasiveness of suffering in our healthcare system, and to provide the strategies and tools to: * Identify and measure suffering throughout your organization * Create a system in which every clinical response is informed by compassion * Operationalize staff behavior to promote meaning and purpose * Increase productivity by building a culture of collaboration Reducing human suffering isn’t just a moral imperative for healthcare providers. It’s a practical way to improve organizations and fix our broken system—without sacrificing the respect, dignity, and compassion we all deserve.