Clinicians Offered New Guide To Help Maintain Patients' Dignity

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Palliative Care / Hospice Care
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  Primary Care / General Practice;  Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 27 Jul 2007 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Dignity in care is sometimes rejected by clinicians, either because of time constraints or because they believe they don't know enough about it, according to an article in this weeks' British Medical Journal (BMJ). A new guide is being offered to doctors to help retain a patient's dignity.

The guide (framework) is closely based on what happens in palliative care, but is relevant across the whole spectrum of medicine, says article author Dr. Harvey Chochinox, Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba. Dr. Chochinov is one of Canada's leading palliative care experts.

The guide explains how kindness, humanity and respect, factors which are often seen as 'niceties of care', are in fact core values of medicine - it is based on empirical evidence. The author calls this area of care "spiritual care, whole person care, psychosocial care or dignity-conserving care".

Doctor Chochinov explains that a health care professionals influence on how a patient experiences illness is significant. A patient's sense of dignity is strongly influenced by doctors and other health professionals.

The guide has four parts:

A - Attitude
B - Behavior
C - Compassion
D - Dialogue

Chochinov says that one of the most common reasons a patient seeks out physician hastened death is loss of dignity, hence these four parts to the guide are key.

Each of the four parts contains several check points the health professional can refer to and make sure he/she is following. According to Chochinov, the guide is valuable for those working in teaching, clinical practice and standards, undergraduate as well as post-graduate levels, across all medical specialties, multi-disciplinary teams, and allied health professionals.

"Chochinov's ABCD should be the first mnemonic we teach all professionals entering health and social care, even before airway, breathing, and circulation," add Irene Higginson and Sue Hall, a palliative care doctor and psychologist, King's College London, in an accompanying editorial.

Dignity and the essence of medicine: the A, B, C, and D of dignity conserving care
BMJ Volume 335, pp 184-7

Editorial: Rediscovering dignity at the bedside
BMJ Volume 335, pp 167-8

http://www.bmj.com

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

• Additional
• References
• Citations