Anadolu Medical Center Earns Second Gold Accreditation

Providing services with a Human-Centered Care approach, Anadolu Health Center has become the first hospital in Turkey to receive Planetree Gold Accreditation for the second time, thanks to its success in this field.

Human-Centered Care Stating that everyone working at Anadolu Health Center contributes to the success in the field of care, Human-Centered Care Manager Asuman Kuşçu said, “Human-Centered Care consists of multi-dimensional studies that require a change in institutional culture. At its most basic, it refers to considering the person as an individual with not only their ’patient’ identity, but also their past experiences, values, preferences, and expectations, and placing them at the center of healthcare services. Although this may seem easy, when it comes to seeing each patient as unique in healthcare institutions and shaping care accordingly, things can get complicated. Because it is necessary to abandon a one-sided perspective when providing healthcare services and to establish a partnership with the patient and their family. Guidance for institutions on how to achieve this partnership is provided by an organization called Planetree.” he said.

Founded in the USA in 1978 by a patient who had a bad hospital experience, Planetree began working on how healthcare institutions could be more healing environments for patients. In this context, it interviewed over 50,000 patients, relatives and healthcare professionals to obtain their opinions on what they expected for a better healthcare experience. As a result of these interviews, it was seen that people's expectations from healthcare services are generally similar. Expectations such as informing the patient more effectively about their health status, more partnership with the patient and the patient's family, healthcare institutions being environments with a more healing effect physically, and giving more space to patients' individual preferences have determined the standards established for human-centered care accreditation in healthcare institutions today.

With its success in the field of Human-Centered Care, Anadolu Health Center became the first hospital in Turkey and the nearby geography to receive Planetree Gold Accreditation for the second time. Auditors from Planetree, a non-governmental organization that has a say in the subject of Human-Centered Care, conducted focus group interviews with 25 patients/patient relatives, 55 employees and 11 physicians in order to understand what it is really like to provide and receive care at Anadolu Health Center. They also conducted field inspections, observation of the improving environment and spontaneous patient and employee interviews. They interviewed a total of 108 people during the inspection process.

We focus on employees as much as patients
Emphasizing that one of the issues that Planetree focuses on the most is focusing on employees, Anadolu Health Center Human-Centered Care Manager Asuman Kuşçu said, “Just as we address the preferences, expectations and needs of patients, conduct surveys and create projects regarding this, we also address the expectations, preferences and needs of employees in the same way. We receive the feedback and expectations of our employees on issues that concern them and plan the projects we will implement by taking these expectations into consideration.” explained.

People-Centred Care from our patients:

• "I was lying down during my radiotherapy, I suddenly had a panic attack and started crying, but there were three nurses who came to me. The compassion they showed me! They hugged me and offered me a break. I will always remember that. I don't know what will happen in the future, but right now, this care that I have experienced in this treatment is very valuable to me."
• "The staff are friendly, kind and calm. You are nervous before your scans, but the professional technicians and nurses are very calming, trained and carefully selected. They are really good people who have the structure to provide service in a healthcare environment.">
• "All the staff here were very attentive, I think this is a place that is managed in a holistic way. I am grateful for the treatment I have received here, I have always felt comfortable here."
• "The staff are so friendly, when you see the smiles on their faces you know you are in a safe space. It has a very positive effect on your mental health."