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| Members of the Gold Humanism Honor Society hold signs created for Solidarity Week in front of University Hospital. |
“This is for your dedication,” said Brittany Jackson, a fourth-year medical student and member of the USA Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. “We really appreciate all you do.”
Jackson and other GHHS members from the USA College of Medicine fanned out across USA Health in a blitz of activities during Solidarity Week for Compassionate Patient Care, a national weeklong celebration of humanistic care Feb. 14-18.
“It has been an awesome privilege to show gratitude to individuals who have worked tirelessly during the COVID pandemic to make compassionate, patient-centered care their priority,” said Jackson, the chapter’s social coordinator. “It gave me the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself.”
On Monday, members placed a “Humanistic Poster Board” near the hospital cafés and invited physicians, nurses and staff to write on heart-shaped Post-it Notes how they planned to show acts of humanism. “I will treat my patients as if they are my family,” one note read. “Understand and Remember … we are ALL patients,” read another.
On Words of Kindness Day, GHHS members placed flyers on patients’ lunch trays that explained Solidarity Week and encouraged them to express their gratitude to the healthcare staff. Nurses were encouraged to write something they liked about their patients on white boards in the rooms.
“Compassionate care can mean so many things, but I think the most important one is listening to the story and not the problem,” said Nicolette Holliday, M.D., an OB-GYN and a faculty member of GHHS, in a video created for Solidarity Week about compassionate care.
“A lot of times patients will tell you what their problem is, but they’re really begging you to ask them their story. How did they get there? What are the outside influences that are affecting their decisions?” Holliday said. “When we ask who they are and what their story is, that means we are asking about them, not just their problem.”
Dunaway and fellow GHHS members unfurled two banners wishing the students good luck and handed out fortune cookies containing the word “pass.” This year, Step 1 is moving from a numerical scoring system to pass-fail.
“This was awesome,” said Luke Harris, one of the second-year students, as he opened his fortune cookie. “It was really nice of them to make the gesture.”
The GHHS is named for the late pediatric neurologist Arnold P. Gold, M.D., who co-founded the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. Gold, who died in 2018, championed the importance of empathy and compassion in patient care, and inspired generations of doctors to connect with the patients they treated.
Solidarity Week activities are posted on social media with the hashtag #solidarityweek. Find the USA College of Medicine on Facebook @usacollegeofmed.
