The Healthcare Ethics Committee of the Lanzarote Healthcare Services Management, attached to the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, brought together more than a hundred professionals from the healthcare field and high school students at the third edition of the Conference on Communication and Healthcare Ethics, held last Friday at the Island Council.
The meeting included the participation of doctors, psychologists, and nurses from the Canary Islands Health Service, who, together with jurists and professors, reflected on the importance of humane, close, and respectful care in the healthcare context. Students from the biosanitary baccalaureate program at IES Las Maretas in Arrecife also participated, with the aim of encouraging future professionals to approach the field of ethics and communication in health.
The conference became a space for open debate around the essential resources to promote ethical, compassionate, and person-centered healthcare, promoting effective communication and the incorporation of the patient's narrative as a fundamental axis of clinical practice.
Compassion and the patient's narrative, keys to person-centered care
Dr. Vinita Mohandas Mahtani, a researcher at the Research Unit of the Canary Islands University Hospital, focused her presentation on compassion in healthcare communication and the keys to a "human-centered" approach to care.
For her part, María Dolores Marrero, a specialist in Family and Community Medicine and a member of projects related to patient experience, gave the talk We work with stories: Paying attention to narrative in healthcare.
Current Challenges in Healthcare Communication
During the meeting, other topics were addressed, such as communication with people with mental illness, the challenges of healthcare communication, and strategies for talking about the end of life.
The jurist Elisa Casas delved into the importance of informed consent, while the professor of philosophy, Salvador García Lax, offered a reflection on conscientious objection and healthcare.
The president of the Lanzarote Ethics Committee, Elisa Corujo, highlighted the main challenges that arise today in healthcare communication, including linguistic barriers, the complexity of information, emotional stress, and the need to guarantee respect for the confidentiality and privacy of patient information.About the Healthcare Ethics Committee The Healthcare Ethics Committee of the Lanzarote Health Area is an autonomous, consultative, and interdisciplinary body dedicated to promoting ethical and humanitarian care in healthcare services. Its work focuses on promoting respect for patients' rights, dignity in care, and facilitating ethical decision-making in the care environment.