The Proactive Patient

Being a hospital patient is not on anyone’s “Top 10 List” of places to visit, (unless you’re having your beautiful baby, that is), but it’s a part of life, so we might as well make the most of the opportunity to improve our health. While the Patient Advocate Department at Texas Health Harris is ready to help if you have any concerns during the hospital stay, the #1 patient advocate will always be …YOU, the patient.

There are many understandable reasons for you to hesitate before speaking up to correct an issue while staying in any hospital. For example, you are: in a new place and out of your routine; surrounded by unfamiliar nursing staff and physicians; nervous about initiating verbal conflicts; coping with fatigue, pain, and fears about your future. All these reasons and many more could add up to not speaking up about your preferences, questions, and concerns.

Conversely, what is the main reason why it is important to speak up as a patient? Proactively speaking up will give hospital staff the knowledge needed to offer you a personalized hospital stay, which will then increase your satisfaction so you may then feel better faster. As described in this previous blog nursing staff play a key role in helping the patient feel safe enough to speak up by using “proactive communication techniques.”

Sometimes I hear concerns from patients whose hospital stay was seen as a negative experience due to something that happened a week before, and now they’re being discharged home. The patient may say something similar to “I want to tell you about this issue so the next person won’t have the same experience.” While it’s important to improve our services for future patients, our #1 focus is in the present tense - to hear and take action on all your comments when they occur. Nursing staff and Patient Advocates are on your side as we work together to reach your optimal health goals.

While it’s established that no hospital stay is on your “Top 10 List” of get-away destinations, speaking up for your health’s sake can be the most important thing you can do for yourself this side of Hawaii.

- Craig Pomykal
Patient Advocate