When reflecting on this picture I think of brokenness, unimportance and being forgotten about. The reason why I feel this picture represents what people feel at hospital is that it’s exactly how I feel when having to go to the hospital and the service I have received while being there. There were feelings of not knowing, of sadness, anxiousness, doubt, loneliness, pain, discomfort, powerlessness, invasion of privacy, discrimination, stupidity and unimportance.
The only way in which I can reflect on how I think patients feel in hospital, is by my own experiences and what I might have saw or heard. The first thing I need to elaborate on is the healthcare system of South Africa. When I speak of the healthcare system I’m talking about private and the public sector. The difference between the two is vast, even though the two hospitals can be situated in exactly the same areas. I feel the level of service and how patients are treated are completely different. I understand that public hospitals are government owned, but the poor service that is delivered at these hospital saddens me. Not only because I feel that healthcare should be done in a clean environment but also peoples initial thought of going to a hospital should be accepting and not whether they will be helped in time or have to sit the entire day at a hospital or clinic to be seen by a doctor. In this sense I feel the private sector has grown a lot. People would rather spend a lot of money then feel as though they wasting their time at a public hospital for exactly the same service.
By this type of feelings and mind set of patients when it comes to physiotherapy and rehabilitation, I think there are feelings of anxiousness and not being sure if this type of therapy will work. Therefore, with that mind set and not knowing what physiotherapy is the patients that we will come into contact with can be vast, in public and private sector. Sometimes it makes our service easier or difficult in getting the patient to their full mobility.
With regards to the Health system in South Africa. I know it has changed drastically from the years of apartheid, but still a lot has to be done. (Coovadia, Jewkes, Barron, Sanders &McIntyre, 2009), “In 1994, when apartheid ended, the health system faced massive challenges, many of which still persist. The public health system has been transformed in an integrated, comprehensive national service, but failures in leadership and stewardship and weak management have led to inadequate implementation of what are often good policies.”
The service received at Public hospitals and clinics is not just about the environment but also what type of people who are employed. There are in a lot of cases good physicians who take pride in caring for patients and these results can really be seen by the way patients speak about their doctor, nurse or even physiotherapists for that matter. By there are cases where rendering a good service to the patient doesn’t occur in these hospitals and in cases abuse is found. (Kruger & Schoombee, 2010), “It is suggested that both nurses and patients feel frustrated, disappointed, resentful and even enraged in a context where they cannot be in control and cannot care or be cared for. The study seems to suggest that the empowerment of nurses and patients is necessary in order for the abuse to stop.”
(Coovadia, Jewkes, Barron, Sanders &McIntyre, 2009), “Incompetence within the public sector is so widespread that it is an issues that has become very difficult to deal with. Limited capacity is a problem at every level of the health sector and throughout government.”
(Stoyanov & Edwards,2017), “In these circumstances where there is only limited space for people at hospitals, practitioners are also affected. The work experiences of health care practitioners relate to the quality of service that they provide. Many are overworked and at a high risk of occupational stress, compassion fatigue, and/or burnout.” In light of all of this, government needs to find a solution so that patient and practitioners needs are met.
Reference List
Coovadia,H., Jewkes,R., Barron,P., Sanders,D,. McIntyre,D. (2009) The health and health system of south Africa: Historical roots of current public health challeneges. Journal of Elsevier: The Lancet 374(1), 817-834. https://scholar.google.co.za/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=the+health+and+health+system+os+south+africa%3A+historical+roots+of+current+public+health+cha&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DUT19PY6kybgJ
Kruger, LM., Schoombee, C. (2010) The other side of caring: abuse in South African maternity ward. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology 28(1), 84-101. https://scholar.google.co.za/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=the+other+side%3A+abuse+in+south+africa+maternity+ward&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DlTW59TBsrxcJ
Stoyanov,JE., Edwards,SD. (2017) Experiences of the health care delivery system in a rural South African setting. Journal of Pchology in Africa 27(4), 385-387.
One thought on “Do patients feel like broken windows?”
Thank you for you assignment on how patients might feel in South Africa depending on private or public healthcare. And thank you for elaborating the theme of abuse in hospitals and for mentioning a possible lack of knowledge about physiotherapy in a patient´s point of view.
Your description of the photography and the reason why you chose it to mirror a patient´s point of view, is easy to understand. I wonder if the references to your own experiences of being a patient, could have been academically strengthened by using official studies, which could confirm some of your experiences?
You argument well for that many people would prefer to pay a lot of money to get treated in private clinics instead of waiting long time to get treated in public hospitals. Do you have references for this statement?
I would have loved to hear more about reasons for why patients do not know what physiotherapy can contribute with (“not knowing what physiotherapy is”). Is this because of the status of physiotherapy or is there a difference between public and private health care system in this regard? Are there studies about this them?
Concerning the other references at the end of your assignment I suggest that you explain them a little more: why do you choose the quotes and how are they related to each other?
Overall I have learnt about the some differences between public and private health care in South Africa and appreciate that you draw some lines for me from the end of the apartheid until today. Your quotations about abuse in hospitals made me reflect about what I take for guaranteed, that is not guaranteed at all – abuse might occur everywhere and I as a physiotherapist have to work for preventing abuses both in public and private treatments. Physiotherapists are by their professional guidelines not allowed to engage in sexual relationships to any patient during treatment period, but also in Norway these rules are not always followed. Your suggestion about empowerment of patients and health caretakers seems a good first step into a more professional direction. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.