Translator: Leonardo Silva Reviewer: Rhonda Jacobs
Four years ago,
as I watched my grandmother suffer multiple strokes,
endure hospital stays
and be led finally to her grave,
not only was I confronted with bouts of sadness,
but I also wondered,
"Had that hospital done everything in their power to save her life,
or at least comforted her as she progressively got worse?"
I also realized:
who was I to be questioning what a hospital was doing with its job?
I had no degree, I wasn't a hospital manager,
but I also felt that it could be improved.
What if I could design a hospital system
that attended to the needs of every patient
and had a perfect system?
I knew that was impossible,
because I had no years of training and no degrees,
but I had an idea and a reason behind the idea.
What if I could improve how hospital systems work?
What if I could learn about them?
And I took that challenge.
So first, I did some information digging.
I talked to my friend,
who is a supervisor at the Radiology Department of Houston Methodist,
and he gave me a list of the responsibilities that he has.
He told me that he receives an allotment of money.
He has to decide how much to spend on labor and non-labor expenses.
He told me that if certain deadlines are not met,
he has to fill out a form of an action plan
saying what he plans to do to fix them.
He has to monitor patient satisfaction scores,
and he has to keep track of his employer's labor output.
After an hour and a half of information,
I was overwhelmed!
In addition, I looked into the hospital system he works for,
Houston Methodist,
and I found something so interesting.
It's called I CARE,
and it stands for Integrity,
Compassion,
Accountability,
Respect
and Excellence.
And through these values,
every employee at the Houston Methodist organization
tries so hard to strive and attain these characteristics
when they're dealing with patients.
So after seeing these examples,
I felt: who was I to bring an idea to this table
of this complicated system of healthcare and hospital management?
But I had an idea, and I had a reason behind it.
So I attempted and I formed Paregoria Hospital System.
"Paregoria" means, in the Greek language, "comfort and consolation."
I'd just like to highlight one feature of this system,
and it's the RRR system.
This stands for Receive, Review and Respond.
What this group of experts does
is they receive patient as well as employee surveys.
They review them seeing the similarities, the trends in the answers,
such as, "Did you feel like you were respected and listened to
as a patient here at Paragoria Hospital System?"
"Would you recommend our care to different family members and friends?"
And on the other side, we have the employee survey,
"Do you feel that you are valued here at Paragoria?"
"Do you feel that your relationship with the patients and your fellow coworkers
has that paragoria spirit of comfort and concern?
And would you recommend this occupation to others?"
And after reviewing these surveys,
they respond,
they come up with suggestions,
they come up with plans to implement
in order to improve the system of Paragoria,
so that the relationships between doctors and patients are improved.
The workers, their workmates, they feel closer to one another.
And that is the whole point of this hospital system.
I also designed a potential hospital department for Paragoria,
and that is the Dialysis Core.
And one room I'd like to point out
is the Sky Room.
See?
Now, what is a Sky Room in a hospital?
Well, say, for instance, you've just had a long day at work at Paragoria.
You just diagnosed someone and you feel like you need to relax.
Or you're a patient who just heard some troubling news,
or just went through a procedure,
and you come to this room.
You're greeted with sounds of water trickling,
the smells and aroma of fresh plants and flowers
and the warmth of the sky light,
and you feel relaxed,
you feel comforted, consoled.
You feel paragoria.
And that is the whole point of the Sky Room
in the Paragoria Dialysis Core
and many other prospective hospitals.
Now, is this system complete?
By no means!
But is any system really perfect?
There are constant adaptations that a hospital has to deal with.
One source from the New England Journal of Medicine highlighted
that in one year, American adults only receive 54.9% of the recommended care
and that the main barrier to patient-centered care
is that more attention is being devoted to the outcomes of diseases -
or the outcomes of medications
rather than the needs and wishes of the patient.
So there is room for improvement.
And in the meantime,
as hospitals continue to improve,
I ask myself, "What can I do as a person to help hospitals?
I don't have a degree in Hospital Management.
I'm not an architect.
But what can I do to help them?
Can I show my appreciation for those who work in this complicated system?"
Just as a small toe may not have the same job as the heart,
the lungs or the kidneys,
it plays a vital role in the balance of a human being.
Whether you are operating on a brain in a surgery,
or you're filling reports for medication shipments,
you are contributing to the health of the hospital.
So until hospitals progress,
I look forward to a future
where they continue to show organization, functionality, stability,
financially and in patient care.
I look forward to hospitals that continue to exhibit that paragoria attitude
of comfort and consolation and concern,
a hospital that I would have wanted my grandmother to be in,
a hospital that is healthier,
one that is efficient.
Thank you.
(Applause) (Cheers)