What is it about?
A scholarship of the Robert Bosch Foundation brought the author for 6 weeks to the Sultanate of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula in 2011. At the Royal Hospital in Muscat she tried to find answers to her research questions which focused on patient`s expectations and interactions between patients/families and the health care community. Informations were gathered through observations and interviews.
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Why is it important?
Although the author expected to find a completely different hospital culture with dissimilar norms and values she discovered a culture very similar to what she is used to in the western world including its power structures resulting in interaction and communication problems. Patients felt powerless in terms of decision-making and isolated from their usual community support and lifestyle. Coming from remote areas, they mostly lack technically advanced care because of their geographic location. Being admitted to a large acute care urban centre they not only become socially isolated from their community support but also feel misunderstood. Lack of communication and dialogue between health care personnel and the patient impacts negatively on the patient’s self-confidence and significantly diminishes the patient’s or family’s position in the decision-making process. It also does not facilitate or promote understanding and ends up in frustration on both sides. The expectations of patients were primarily centered on human core values and needs, e.g. total pain relief and cure (disease oriented), and the right of information and autonomy in the decision-making process. Patients want to be treated as human beings on an equal footing. Therefore, clinicians need to critically reflect on their daily practice and evaluate constantly what they do and how this can influence other people’s lives in an either positive or negative way. To look at the power inequality in hospitals is one way of doing this, in order to better understand the patient’s expectations. Language can influence the whole process and from a patient’s perspective being autonomous in health delivery and decision-making is not a privilege of some patients but the right of everyone.
Perspectives
This visit stay at the Royal Hospital in Muscat was a very rewarding and stimulating opportunity for me not only from a professional but also from a personal perspective. I was able to dive into a new culture for 4 weeks and work with international colleagues in a multicultural environment. I started full of curiosity and brought my own expectations. I found an overwhelmingly generous hospitality which left me with an extraordinary memory of human kindness and shared interest in each other. I hope that more nursing colleagues might have the chance and courage to participate in an international programme to exchange their experiences and to enrich their professional lives. This might create a better common ground for critical reflection and individual awareness in our daily practice
Heike Penner
University Hospital of Munich
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Hospitation im Royal Hospital Maskat im Sultanat Oman: Ein Erfahrungsbericht, Spiritual Care, January 2016, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/spircare-2016-1002.
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