Hospitals must be more focused on privacy

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A woman has complained on the micro-blogging site Twitter that a male staffer in a hospital in the suburbs walked into a space where she was inadequately covered necessitated as she was undergoing an ECG. She was hooked on to an ECG machine, and the nurse in charge had allegedly stepped out to retrieve a file. Meanwhile, a male staffer walked in erroneously though the curtain was closed.

This has enraged the woman, who said she confronted the management. All concerned did apologise to the woman. This shines a spotlight on privacy and extra caution by hospitals.

While this may be by error, male staffers cannot walk in while curtains are closed. Nurses should not leave a patient and in fact should depute another nurse if they have to leave the room or bedside for some reason. A light outside saying occupied or even a recording that plays stating there is a patient inside can also help and is enough of an alert for all staffers.

One has to understand the psychological mindset of the patient who may already be tense or a trifle unnerved undergoing a procedure in a hospital, though it may not be an emergency.

Absolute privacy and safety should be ensured and the person should be reassured by the surrounding environment. Medical facilities need to stress hugely on mental well-being and equanimity, in fact all procedures, spaces and staff behaviour should be geared towards that.

Patients are already on edge when entering a facility for a check-up or otherwise. They need an environment that puts them at immediate and complete ease.

It is mentally unsettling and in fact, hugely distressful even mistakenly, as it is very unfortunate. Facilities need to put this topmost in their training manual and be especially mindful to use technology too, to ensure respectful privacy for patients.