Giving Thanks

Reflecting on the thanks we receive from our patients and their loved ones

As Thanksgiving draws nears, I am grateful for the outstanding care our doctors, nurses and staff provide our patients. I want to start by thanking them for the following:

• You work together to make patients feel listened to and safe.
• You are attentive, kind and professional.
• You treat everyone with respect and compassion.
• You create a collegial, caring environment.
• You treat people as unique and worthy of comprehensive care.

While I easily could have written these statements, they actually come from our patients. The bolded phrases are verbatim from letters of thanks penned by patients or their loved ones to our care providers and staff.

Our health system receives dozens of thank-you’s each week through email, texts, written notes, phone calls and even in-person visits. I want to share a few with you:

• The wife of a patient treated at Keck Hospital of USC expressed her appreciation of the 7 West surgical ICU team by referencing the story of the “starfish thrower” in her thank you note. In the tale, a man is walking along a starfish-strewn beach. When he meets a young girl throwing starfish into the sea in an attempt to save them, he remarks, “There are too many. You won’t make a difference.” The girl throws yet another starfish into the sea, replying, “I made a difference to this one.”  The letter concludes that the staff certainly made a difference to “this one,” her husband.

• A family member whose grandmother was treated at the USC Verdugo Hills Hospital emergency department wrote that they had the best possible experience:  “It was our first visit to the hospital, and we were treated with kindness, respect and adoration. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication.”

• A patient from USC Arcadia Hospital had this to say:  “I had the best nurses hands down! I could not have dreamed of being taken better care of. All staff there was top notch.”
  
• ​And from our Newport Beach oncology clinic, came these glowing words from a patient for the nurse who administered her chemotherapy:  “I’m convinced that her professional caring and compassionate attitude helped me to overcome my fears, anxiety and stress.”

Our patients show appreciation for not just their care providers, but other important individuals throughout the health system that help create a caring and healing environment. Recently the family of a long-term patient at USC Norris Cancer Hospital visited the valet staff to thank them in person for their kindness and attentiveness during their loved one’s long illness.

Thanks come to our staff unbidden, but we also seek out feedback. Our patient experience staff sends each in-patient at Keck Medical Center of USC a text asking patients to rate their level of care on a scale of 1 – 5. The usual answer: 5 out of 5.

These patients’ responses are validation of the excellent work of our health care providers, and I am so proud of our organization.

If I wrote my own thank you note to staff, it would be far too long to publish here. But allow me to summarize: “I could not imagine having finer colleagues to work alongside. Your compassionate care, dedication and expertise inspire and motivate me every day. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” 

I had the best nurses hands down! I could not have dreamed of being taken better care of. All staff there was top notch.

Keck Medicine of USC patient

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