Communication and education are important components of health care delivery and essential for patients to make informed health decisions regarding the choice of therapies and compliance to medical advice.
From the moment the patient and/or caregivers first set foot inside a medical facility, there is an opportunity to communicate appropriate messages that demystify the processes to come and aid their decision making. For instance, installing engaging Information, Communication, and Educational (IECs) and Behavior Change Communication (BCC) materials across the premises, especially the waiting area, can facilitate the patients’ understanding of the diseases and enable the discussions with the healthcare professionals.
Any ailment not only affects the physical being of the patient, but can also disrupt their mental, social, and economic well-being. It can affect their family and hamper their life in the long haul. Often, lack of awareness on eye conditions and possible treatments prevents patients from making informed decisions about their conditions. Therefore, it becomes imperative to familiarize the patient with what the treatment would entail. Patient counseling helps patients understand the treatment, length of stay, cost, prognosis, and plan for their rehabilitation.
However, many challenges weaken the way patient counselling is imparted across the country. Lack of professional training opportunities for counselling, difficulty in standardizing protocols, lack of resources and infrastructure, etc. often knock counselling as a practice down to the bottom of the priority list of many healthcare facilities. There is also a need to expand the scope of counselling beyond the financial aspects of the treatment to address any other apprehensions the patients may have.
In a first of its kind intervention in India, Orbis, supported by Foundation for Health and Mind Development, has rolled out its initiative on developing Regional Training Centers on Patient Communication. Towards this, Orbis aims to strengthen systems and processes at the two partner hospitals for improved patient communication and offer courses and regular training programs on patient counseling and education for other hospitals in the region.
