As hospitals seek to improve patient experience to avoid reimbursement cuts and attract return patients, children's hospitals may be at an advantage to adult facilities, according to a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"The belief that quality care and quality of life during that [hospital] stay are mutually exclusive is a fallacy that has been exposed as such by children's hospitals for some time now," Mark A. Attiah, a student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, wrote in the article "Treat Me Like a Child," published in JAMA.
Children's hospitals, with their bright colors, toys, artwork and music, tend to have friendlier environments than adult hospitals. This welcoming environment not only soothes sick children's fears, it can also support healing for patients and families, Mr. Attiah suggests.
He argues that adult hospitals should mimic children's hospitals in creating a calming and comforting atmosphere. Moreover, focusing on creating a comforting atmosphere does not mean hospitals should focus less on providing quality care or that they need to offer the exact same amenities offered by children's hospitals.
"This is not a call to place a large teddy bear in every hospital bed and a bounce house in every lobby. We do, however, need to recognize that the environment, the practice patterns and the mission of a hospital make a direct difference in patient care that can be measured not only in smiles and thank-you notes, but tangible patient outcomes that even hospital administrators can get behind," Mr. Attiah wrote.
"For those of us fortunate enough not to have grown up intimately familiar with the healthcare system, we are all children in the face of illness — scared, ignorant and impulsive — and we should be treated as such."
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