Show Some Respect

Respect is something we all value. We teach it to our children. We expect it in our interactions with others. But we don’t always experience it, especially when it comes to relationships where there’s an imbalance of power – for example, between a boss and an employee.

This imbalance can be most acute in healthcare settings where patients show respect to the medical team, but don’t always feel that it’s reciprocated. A recent Consumer Reports study found that one patient in four felt the staff didn’t consistently treat them like a person. What’s more, the lack of respect actually had implications for patient safety. In the study, patients who rarely felt respected by the healthcare team were two and a half times more likely to experience a medical error, such as a hospital-acquired infection, a wrong diagnosis, an adverse drug reaction or a prescribing mistake.

Here at The Ghosh Center, respect is one of our core values. It’s the morally right thing to do. And it places the power back where it belongs – with the patients who entrust us with their care.

William is one such patient. He speaks eloquently of the impression Dr. Ghosh made during their first meeting and throughout his treatment.

“Our first meeting with Dr. Ghosh was an amazing meeting because I was dealing with so much anxiety, dealing with so much unknown. The thing that impressed me most was his respect for me as an individual. His heart touched my heart, and that really impressed me.

And his approach to me, my dignity and my worth has not changed. He treated me like a human being, not as a number or a statistic, but a person who was going through something stressful. You could feel his compassion and empathy for me all the way through.” 

We’ll be talking more about respect and other key values during the next few weeks. Stay tuned!