18 April is European Patients' Rights Day. To mark the occasion, the Nutricia Foundation asked three experts - a psychologist, a nurse practitioner and a paediatrician - what aspects of healthcare they think a patient should be guaranteed support in. If they could add one new patient right, what would it concern? We encourage you to read the answers.
Right to post-hospital supervision
The topic of holistic healthcare is not new. More and more is being said about the importance of not only the period of hospital treatment itself, especially in wards such as the Intensive Care Unit, but also the period of the coming months or even years after discharge. - As a long-term care physician, I know very well that an illness, such as cancer, is not an episode, but usually a long struggle of the body to overcome the disease, but also a further struggle to return to full health and function before the disease. Therefore, we should take special care of the organism, also between and after the various stages of treatment. Such post-hospital care should be planned even before leaving the ward and should include many areas of health - including care by a general practitioner, internist or paediatrician, specialist e.g. oncologist - who are aware of the possible risks and needs of the patient during this time. The complexity of care consists of follow-up visits, examinations, rehabilitation, nutritional care, psychological or psychiatric consultations. A period of six months after discharge is the absolute minimum time for which a patient, regardless of age, should be under close medical supervision. In some more severe cases, this should be a period of even several years - multidirectional individualised care for people in recovery is an area of increasing importance and in recent years has - believes Dr Michal Błoch, paediatrician, specialist in long-term care and clinical nutrition, known as @drhospice.
Right to nutritional care
- Every day I work with patients for whom nutritional support is an essential part of treatment. In diseases such as cancer, nutrient requirements often fluctuate, which increases the risk of malnutrition. It is very important that the oncology patient is provided, first and foremost, with the necessary supply of protein (the need for which almost doubles compared to the needs before the disease) and energy. But proper nutrition is extremely important in any disease, as malnutrition affects the body's immunity and its ability to recover. Therefore, education about medical nutrition and unlimited access to diagnosis, consultation and subsequent nutritional care, if necessary from the very beginning of the disease, could contribute to improving or maintaining the patient's nutritional status and, as a result, to a better response to pharmacotherapy, a shorter treatment time and an improved quality of life - says Paweł Urbańczyk, coordinating nurse at the Nutrimed Nutrition Clinic.
Right to full psychological therapy for patient carers
Adrianna Sobol, a psycho-colonologist from the Medical University of Warsaw, who works on a daily basis not only with patients but also with their families, points out how important it is to support the entire family system affected by the disease. In particular, the support of the main caregivers, who are struggling with daily care responsibilities, should be considered a right of the patient. Why does she think that carer therapy should be treated in this way? - Above all, because more than one carer is also a patient - and often a forgotten one. And he or she faces an enormous psychological burden. On the other hand, systemic psychological support for carers is also a guarantee of better support for the patient. Concerns about burdening loved ones, how they are coping with our illness - this is a huge part of the patient worries I hear about every day in the office. Knowing that the carer has the right support would certainly further benefit the patient's wellbeing and condition.
Talks on patient rights were held by the Nutricia Foundation as part of the campaign 'Medical nutrition - Your meals in the fight against illness'.
Nutricia Foundation was established in 1996 by Nutricia Polska Sp. z o.o.. Since its inception, the Foundation has been raising awareness about the role of nutrition, initially engaging, among other things, in nutrition education during the first 1,000 days of a child's life. From 2019, the Nutricia Foundation's mission is to educate about the role of nutrition at different stages of a person's life. The Foundation addresses its activities to children and parents, patients and their relatives, representatives of the medical community, public institutions and non-governmental organisations. The Foundation runs nationwide educational programmes such as: "1000 first days for health" or the campaign "Medical nutrition - Your meals in the fight against illness". It also runs a nationwide grant competition, enabling scientists to conduct scientific research in the field of human nutrition.