program book

14 th AFCMA Congress 2008 Asian Federation Of Catholic Medical AssociationsHuman Dignity in Modern MedicineHow Catholics Holistic Care can Promote Human Dignity in MedicineSister Mary Ann Yiu Chin Lou, MDCardinal Tien Hospital, TaiwanIntroductionModern medicine has reached new heights in developing scientific technology. The medicalpractitioner must often face soul-searching challenges in his desire to do what is best for hispatient. Our Catholic concepts of what is properly a human person and what constitutes humandignity need be clearly defined in our minds and in practice.ObjectiveWe take this opportunity to re-iterate our Catholic position in administering health care through2000 years of traditional excellence. To treat every patient as a dignified VIP, we propose a newsimple approach, i.e the 4 Principles of Holistic Care ( 四 全 照 顧 ): Care for the whole person ( 全人 ), for the whole journey of life or illness ( 全 程 ), the whole family ( 全 家 ) and by the wholeteam ( 全 隊 ).MethodConcerted institutional efforts were made to develop 1) well-defined goals and clearly statedobjectives, to promote human dignity in medicine, 2) dedicated leadership at all levels, 3)consistent educational efforts to promote the principles to all co-workers, 4) a supportive &encouraging atmosphere, to carry out the objectives.The Catholic doctor should be the leader in this attitude, because the patients’ welfare is mostlyin the hands of the attending physician-in-charge. We are constantly aware of our responsibilityto convince our other colleagues the desirability and usefulness of our standard of care, bywords and action, 1) to care for the patient’s whole person, physical, emotional, spiritual andpsycho-social needs, 2) to care for the patient’s whole journey of illness, 3) to care for thewhole family and the significant care-givers, and 4) to care by coordinating and bringing outthe best from each of the whole professional team.Not the least is the contribution of the pastoral care worker in the team, who consoles andsupports the patient and the care team, and who acts as a bridge of communication among them.ConclusionWhen patients feel they are treated with respect and dignity, the positive feed-back to thedoctor and the staff contributes more than anything else towards work-satisfaction and furtherencourages Christian spirit in action.Real examples will be presented.32 Abstracts of Free Paper Session / Poster Presentataion / Country Report