Values in Healthcare.
I have spent some time thinking about the way we observe people whether it be at work or in other environments- how they build relationships with their patients, their friends and how they interact with each other as colleagues.
I have seen the building of beautiful moments, - of pure care and understanding- and watch as senior nurses inspire the next generation with wisdom and skill
I have also been thinking about core values- and how these impact our relationships.
What drives there actions and reactions?
Does this impact decisions they make or how they can be?
If there is a physical shift- is it something that is tangible- or is it intrinsically linked to how they are in the world- and how they would want to be and work?
Core values in healthcare is something that many of us as healthcare professionals intrinsically bring into our daily lives- the work and commitment around the 6C's is for some who we are- and we hold these values dear with care, they are part of everything we do- they enable us to provide care enveloped with love and understanding, respect and compassion.
They allow us to share, teach and gain strength and fulfilment within our roles in caring for our patients and our work colleagues.
Whilst writing this entry I have thought about many things that have underpinned the health care professional I am and the person who I have become.
I remember a teacher at primary school who was a beacon of light in an often scary time of primary school, who was direct but caring and would listen.
My first Matron- who instilled that you must always make sure your patients knew who you were by name, always wash your hands, and never lie.
A professor who agreed that above everything in the clinical setting when all around are loosing their heads- there must be time for play- as a steadying ship, as a way of reaching out.
I recall moments spent with children and young people, and family members at the most worrying and frightening times- and of the words used, and of the skills learnt from many colleagues.
I think about the families and the children and young people who I cared for on the bumpy and often stormy and unknown roads to palliative and end of life care - who were the care givers for them?
Did we always get it right?
Who did we learn from?
How could we make a difference to them and the most vulnerable children and young people?
We cannot change the diagnosis or outcome- but we can offer them love, warmth, care, a hand to guide them.
Some years ago during my first qualified post I had the honour of working with a remarkable family- a family who had had their inner world rocked by news that their only child had a palliative diagnosis.
The immediate first few days were spent in a darkend room, with just a small glimmer of sunlight peaking through the curtains, those days were filled with emotions that could make a volcano erupt.
My role- to let them be, to sit and listen, to hold their hands and their tears, to try and support them to make sense of the information, to care, to hold them in mind, and to be honest.
I remember stepping out of the room occasionally and thinking- Am I really making a difference?
In healthcare we want to make a difference- the smallest of things as we know have the biggest impact, the cup of tea, rather than a plastic cup, a proper cup.
A extra blanket, the curtains being opened, the sharing of the latest headlines in the newspaper.
The acknowledgement of a life, and of all their achievements.
How can we do this?
Our core values now come into their own- as they are part of our very being and so support us to provide the very best care we can give- to be kind, offer warmth, listen, be interested and hold them in mind, for the greater purpose of what we do is there in the very core of us.
However to do this- we must be offered kindness, warmth, and have the opportunity to be listened to.
To us these are moments to re-charge and re-ignite our passion for patient care, of patient experience and the use of our knowledge and skills.
I wanted to share part of a letter I received from a family- a family experiencing loss.
" We felt like we had be hit by a lorry, and the lorry just kept reversing over us again and again, but each time there was this figure providing a bandage or a kind word, before being hit again.
This figure returned each time, and the lorry slowed down a bit, we couldn't see out, or a way out of this mess, yet the figure remained- this was our only glimmer of hope, of love even though we were unkind at times- the figure never left us- we now know it was you and this place that has been our home for the last 2 weeks- we don't know how you did it, but you allowed us to be just be without any expectations, only that our child would be loved, and honoured and lived"
Please take care of each other, and then we can take care of children, young people and their families.
Together For Short Lives @Tog4ShortLives and @NICEcomms have published draft guidelines for end of life care for children, if you can please take a look.
Sian Spencer-Little
Copyright July 2016
I remember a teacher at primary school who was a beacon of light in an often scary time of primary school, who was direct but caring and would listen.
My first Matron- who instilled that you must always make sure your patients knew who you were by name, always wash your hands, and never lie.
A professor who agreed that above everything in the clinical setting when all around are loosing their heads- there must be time for play- as a steadying ship, as a way of reaching out.
I recall moments spent with children and young people, and family members at the most worrying and frightening times- and of the words used, and of the skills learnt from many colleagues.
I think about the families and the children and young people who I cared for on the bumpy and often stormy and unknown roads to palliative and end of life care - who were the care givers for them?
Did we always get it right?
Who did we learn from?
How could we make a difference to them and the most vulnerable children and young people?
We cannot change the diagnosis or outcome- but we can offer them love, warmth, care, a hand to guide them.
Some years ago during my first qualified post I had the honour of working with a remarkable family- a family who had had their inner world rocked by news that their only child had a palliative diagnosis.
The immediate first few days were spent in a darkend room, with just a small glimmer of sunlight peaking through the curtains, those days were filled with emotions that could make a volcano erupt.
My role- to let them be, to sit and listen, to hold their hands and their tears, to try and support them to make sense of the information, to care, to hold them in mind, and to be honest.
I remember stepping out of the room occasionally and thinking- Am I really making a difference?
In healthcare we want to make a difference- the smallest of things as we know have the biggest impact, the cup of tea, rather than a plastic cup, a proper cup.
A extra blanket, the curtains being opened, the sharing of the latest headlines in the newspaper.
The acknowledgement of a life, and of all their achievements.
How can we do this?
Our core values now come into their own- as they are part of our very being and so support us to provide the very best care we can give- to be kind, offer warmth, listen, be interested and hold them in mind, for the greater purpose of what we do is there in the very core of us.
However to do this- we must be offered kindness, warmth, and have the opportunity to be listened to.
To us these are moments to re-charge and re-ignite our passion for patient care, of patient experience and the use of our knowledge and skills.
I wanted to share part of a letter I received from a family- a family experiencing loss.
" We felt like we had be hit by a lorry, and the lorry just kept reversing over us again and again, but each time there was this figure providing a bandage or a kind word, before being hit again.
This figure returned each time, and the lorry slowed down a bit, we couldn't see out, or a way out of this mess, yet the figure remained- this was our only glimmer of hope, of love even though we were unkind at times- the figure never left us- we now know it was you and this place that has been our home for the last 2 weeks- we don't know how you did it, but you allowed us to be just be without any expectations, only that our child would be loved, and honoured and lived"
Please take care of each other, and then we can take care of children, young people and their families.
Together For Short Lives @Tog4ShortLives and @NICEcomms have published draft guidelines for end of life care for children, if you can please take a look.
Sian Spencer-Little
Copyright July 2016
There is something reassuring from reading this just before I start my day at work today. I shall think more about how I listen.
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