Karen Armstrong Visits The Aga Khan University Hospital

Renowned scholar, author and thought leader on compassion, Karen Armstrong visited the Children’s Hospital where doctors, nurses and staff members practice the philosophy of compassionate care and patient certainty. Armstrong, who founded the Charter of Compassion, firmly believes that a compassionate world is undoubtedly a peaceful world where every person, born with compassion is treated the way they want – with dignity, equity and respect

The Children’s Hospital shared with her how practices of compassion and mindfulness, skillsets staff members have been receiving training for and are encouraged to use in their work, have impacted patients. Programmes within the Children’s Hospital, such as the Nurse Mentorship programme, are not only improving patient care, but are enabling the Children’s Hospital to feel supported while delivering compassionate care. The Children’s Hospital has introduced a module and a group of 33 people attended 3 workshops learning how to implement compassionate practice in their daily work.

“We understand the sense of empathy a patient’s family expects when they come here. It is our staff who needs to understand the family’s needs, hence our team works immensely on helping our staff achieve the certainty level in what they are doing,” says Dr. Babar Hassan, Service Line Chief, Children’s Hospital, AKUH.

The staff at AKUH does not only assist the patient and their families at the time of admission to the hospital till the time they are discharged, but with constant follow ups post discharge, we show our compassion to our patients.

Karen Armstrong remarked about the Children’s Hospital, “the ability to empathise with others is a part of healing process, I saw at the Children’s Hospital here at the Aga Khan University Hospital, a nurse was teaching a mother how to play with her child despite of being in a traumatic setting; the patients who come here for their treatment are very lucky to have such assistance.”

“The way forward is to work in line of ‘compassion’. We will have a sustainable plan and constant reinforcement of what we have currently achieved,” said Dr. Babar Hassan, Service Line Chief, Children’s Hospital, AKUH.