This Thursday, November 27th, the Health Regulatory Authority (ERS) alerted healthcare providers to the need to adopt measures to ensure that users receive adequate, person-centred and humane care.
The health regulator’s warning comes following several complaints from users reporting “situations that do not comply with the principle and practices of humanizing healthcare” and considering the legal framework and guidelines in this matter.
ERS reinforces the supervisory alert “Humanization of healthcare”issued today, that all healthcare providers, regardless of whether or not they have formal humanization structures, must ensure that care is technically correct and humanized.
According to the regulator, communication with users or their legal representatives must be clear and cordial, providing adequate resources whenever their health condition requires, such as wheelchairs, stretchers or comfort measures.
Users must be addressed by name, listened to and have their dignity preserved, and therapeutic decisions must include a complete clinical assessment, considering medical history, symptoms, exams and physical examination, without being based exclusively on complementary means of diagnosis, he emphasizes.
On the other hand, he emphasizes, confidentiality must be respected, avoiding irrelevant comments to other professionals or third parties.
Hygiene care must be guaranteed, such as bathing, changing clothes, using the toilet and changing the position of bedridden users, always in privacy.
Infrastructures must ensure cleanliness, ventilation, natural lighting, colors and signage that preserve dignity and well-being.
At the time of discharge, the user must receive appropriate clothing, a discharge letter or similar document with guidance on care, warning signs and continuity of follow-up, preceded by an assessment of available home support, in conjunction with family members, a family doctor or continued care team.
In palliative care and end-of-life situations, there must be a dignified space to say goodbye to the family and absolute respect for the user’s individual beliefs, says the ERS.
In the context of pregnancy, women’s autonomy, humanized birth practices and breastfeeding must be respected, and in cases of pregnancy loss, users must remain in separate wards from postpartum women and newborns.
For underage users, the presence of parents or legal representatives and affective-emotional well-being must be ensured, avoiding practices that compromise interaction with professionals or other children.
In mental health care, users must be treated in a humane, dignified and non-stigmatizing manner, and physical containment measures must only be applied when clinically justified, prioritizing alternatives that respect the user’s dignity.
The humanization committees of local health units and the Portuguese Institute of Oncology, as well as equivalent initiatives in the public, private or social sectors, must adopt all necessary measures to ensure that users receive adequate, humanized and person-centered care.