Small kindness – big impact

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky) 

A study published by Swiss researchers suggests that a culture of kindness in health care has a positive impact on healthcare organizations, healthcare staff, and – best of all! –  patients.(1)  If we’re very lucky, many of us already know those benefits because of our lived experience with kind healthcare professionals. One of my own favourite examples of a small kindness that left a huge impression was the cardiac nurse who trotted alongside my hospital gurney – from the Emergency Department to the elevator taking us up to the cardiac cath lab during my 2008 heart attack – with her hand gently resting on my shoulder all the way. She assured me: “You’re in the right place now. We’re going to take good care of you.”  If only every hospital patient was greeted that way.

In my limited experience as a breast cancer patient so far, I’ve observed healthcare professionals at either extremes of that culture of kindness.

I’ve encountered compassion which was so much more than expected that I was moved to tears of pure gratitude. And I’ve also encountered others for whom basic compassion was clearly a foreign concept, exhibited in a personality-free zone.

Speaking of compassion, it just so happens that last week, I was scheduled for a follow-up imaging scan at a clinic in our local hospital, a regularly scheduled appointment for me ever since I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma last spring.

But my last scan in that particular clinic back in August was such an unpleasant experience that I dreaded going back there, ever again.

The most dreadful part for me during my August appointment had been the staff’s utter lack of effort in providing even minimal comfort during an extremely uncomfortable procedure. It required lying absolutely still on a plastic table (not a bed, not a gurney, but a hard plastic table).  As a person living with painful arthritis, staying motionless from start to finish on that cold surface was punishing.  No pillows.  No blankets. Not even a “Good Morning!”  from the tech assigned to do my scan that day.  The only thing he said to me were these two stern words of warning before starting:

 “DON’T MOVE!”

By the time that August scan was finished, I was utterly exhausted by the relentless pain in my shoulders, in my back, and in both arms (which I’d been told to keep elevated overhead for the whole appointment). When it was finally over, it took two full days to recover from the arthritis flare.

No wonder I dreaded going back to that clinic room last week.

And that is why I phoned the clinic four days before my scheduled appointment. I needed to clarify minor but important accommodations that the staff might be willing and able to provide in order to prevent the same pain I’d experienced in August. It made no sense to me, for example, that I wasn’t offered even the thinnest of blankets –  so I thought I’d better step up to find out why.

I spoke to a very pleasant woman on the phone who listened carefully, and empathized with my painful issues during the August scan. She even asked what suggestions I might have to make my next appointment less distressing for me and for other future clinic patients.  She enthusiastically assured me: “We never want any patient to dread coming into our clinic!”  She also advised me that she would be forwarding my list of potential suggestions to all clinic staff. So here’s how I started my suggestion list as requested:

• Please provide an appropriate clinic space to minimize discomfort and maximize personal  consideration (especially for patients suffering from arthritis or other mobility restrictions)
• If for some unknowable reason you MUST use a hard table instead of a proper bed, make sure you offer several cushy pillows and lots of soft blankets to counter the extreme discomfort of lying on a bare surface.
• if the procedure requires the patient to keep both arms raised overhead for the whole appointment, please come up with an appropriate way to help support both arms of the patient to reduce severe joint pain.
• Because I have a port implanted in my chest (to replace the need for I.V.s),  please contact the Nursing Department in advance to schedule a nurse who is trained and experienced in port access to meet me in the clinic for that procedure – which is the protocol for every other scan I’ve had in this clinic.

But when I arrived bright and early at 7:15 a.m. at the clinic last week, here’s what greeted me:

1. No Nurse:  Instead of seeing a nurse, I listened to a detailed explanation from the clinic supervisor about why the techs are not trained or able to access implanted ports. (Port patients already  know all of this, of course – which is why I’d phoned the clinic four days earlier in the first place).
2. No list: As soon as I arrived for my appointment last week, the staff advised me they had  no clue what “list” I was talking about. I explained my phone call with the friendly woman in their clinic four days ago who had assured me she would forward my notes to her colleagues. For some unknowable reason, she had not forwarded any notes to any staff.
3.  I knew that for many cancer patients already suffering relentless side effects of their treatment, pain relief and comfort mean everything. So why was minimal patient comfort not even on that clinic’s radar?
4. Just when you might be feeling shocked by the way last week’s scan appointment was progressing (or not), here comes the surprise ending  – and here’s the photographic evidence that made my day:

   

Not only did the clinic staff provide pillows, warm blankets and rolled-up towels for extra padding on that hard table as I’d requested, but the supervisor dropped some shocking news:  the only part of the scan that actually requires patients to lift both arms overhead was the final 10 minutes of the procedure.

The final 10 MINUTES!?  Why on earth had I (and every other scan patient) been told during countless previous appointments that patients must hold up both arms overhead during the entire scan? I suspect it’s the commonly known practice of “this is how we’ve always done it.” Somebody dropped that ball – and that ball needs to be recovered. Yesterday!

When healthcare staff start asking themselves the small question:“Do I want my patients to be comfortable or uncomfortable?” – that’s the culture of kindness that sees big results from small efforts to help every one of their future patients- not just the ones who speak up to point out gaps in care.

And as the Swiss researchers concluded:

“Studies across different settings have found that senior healthcare leaders need to foster not only technical and organizational skills, but also social skills such as empathy and kindness.  The benefits of kindness include better patient outcomes, as well as a humanized work environment which also helps to prevent stress and burnout among healthcare staff.”

And that, dear reader, is what patient-centred care is about. Most hospitals have blanket warmers on every floor.  Let’s move those warm blankets out of the warmers and onto more sore bodies whenever possible.

1. Greco A.et al. What’s the role of kindness in the healthcare context? BMC Health Services Research. 2025 Feb 5;25(1):207.

Q:  What small kindness has meant the most to you?

♥

NOTE FROM CAROLYN:   In my book, “A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease“ (Johns Hopkins University Press), I wrote more about the power of kindness and compassion  – no matter the diagnosis. You can ask for this book at your local library or bookshop (please support your favourite independent booksellers!)  or order it online (paperback, hardcover or e-book) at Amazon, or order it directly from Johns Hopkins University Press. Use their code HTWN to save 30% off the list price when you order.