How Patient Mental Healthcare Makes Life Easier for Medical Professionals

When new donors and supporters first hear about our mission to provide mental and emotional support to patients facing long-term hospitalization, they think it sounds like a nice cause. One of the things we take care to explain is that we are just trying to improve people’s moods. We want to generate better outcomes and reduce the burden on medical professionals at the same time.

That point often requires a bit of further discussion. How can providing things like talk therapy to people with cancer and other serious illnesses help doctors and nurses?

If you have wondered about this dynamic, then today’s post should answer some of your questions. Let’s take a quick look at why the people who treat illnesses love the kind of work we do at Rain of Light…

Doctors and Nurses Are Too Overworked to Address Patient Needs

Find yourself on the wrong end of a serious medical diagnosis and you will learn two things very quickly. The first is that you will feel psychologically and emotionally overwhelmed. The second is that the doctors and nurses who are doing their best to help you can’t assist with any of those issues.

It isn’t that healthcare providers aren’t aware that their patients can be struggling mentally, or that they don’t care enough to step in. They simply don’t have the time. Hospital staff are overworked as it is.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the mental and emotional issues that patients face will simply go away. Instead, it means that the problems are likely to get worse over time, and possibly even affect treatment outcomes.

Medical Professionals Don’t Have the Training to Address Mental Health Issues

Even if doctors and nurses did have the time to help sick people talk through the range of concerns and emotions they are dealing with, they wouldn’t have the right level of expertise. Psychology is complicated and every situation is different. Each person has their own background, attitude, and biases to deal with.

Asking professionals who focus on medicines and therapies to untangle the psychological burdens their patients face isn’t fair to either party. Asking emotional questions, leading support groups, and providing intensive care to families all require specialized training and expertise. Doctors certainly don’t have time to even discuss these issues, and it’s not what nurses or aides are there for (although the burden often falls to them).

By providing those in long-term hospitalization with access to therapists, we help free up medical professionals so they can focus on the parts of treatment they are best equipped to handle.

Patients Are Healthier and Less Anxious When They Have the Right Support

It goes without saying that everyone working at the hospital wants to see the patients who are admitted recover from their illness and leave. Improving mental health encourages those outcomes.

When all other things are equal, someone who is mentally and emotionally balanced will be more responsive to medical treatments than another person who is not. Our mental state can affect our hormone levels, digestion, sleep quality, and so much more. Mental and emotional therapies can help restore a sense of calm and peace. That, in turn, can make someone feel healthier and more relaxed.

New studies are constantly showing that patients get better more often when they aren’t drowning in negative feelings. In fact, they don’t just have better health outcomes but also tend to improve faster. That means more open hospital beds, lower treatment costs, and less of a strain on hospitals and healthcare providers.

Rain of Light Needs Your Support to Help Patients and Their Families

Our organization was founded based on firsthand experience with the American healthcare system, and especially the gaps that exist for those facing extended hospitalization. Patients and their families simply aren’t getting the support they need at crucial times in their lives.

You can help. Visit our support page now to see how easy it is to make a donation or assist our mission in other ways. Remember that every dollar you give can change the life of someone who is going through the unimaginable right now.