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April 2012
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A Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at The UWI’s Faculty of Medical Sciences, Professor Seetharaman questioned the role of the healthcare system in the death of a patient. “Although ‘risk-adjusted mortality’ has been traditionally accepted as the ‘metric of performance’ of a healthcare unit, I argue that ‘death’ of patients alone may not necessarily reflect a ICU’s real performance. I presented several innovative models adapting tools from the ‘project management’ arena, for performance appraisal as well as quality improvement of healthcare units. This has been a pioneering work in the area of healthcare management,” he said. “I also argue that due to the fact that ‘death’ in hospital has been misconstrued many a time as a failure of the healthcare system, and due to changing belief patterns, many patients whom we consider futile are continuing to receive life-support, consuming a vast quantity of resources,” he said. He said it was not simply a matter of economic costs, but one had to consider the loss of dignity, and the quality of life for patients and their relatives. Saying that ICU care is offered “free of cost” in all our public hospitals, Prof Seetharaman asked if the ICUs were being used for patients who will really benefit. He noted that technology has created a mindset that death is preventable and can be staved off at all costs, creating a ‘death denying’ notion in society, and he reminded the audience that in the course of treating a critically ill patient, it sometimes becomes apparent that further intervention will only prolong the final stages of the process of death. Professor Seetharaman is also the Deputy Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at The UWI’s St. Augustine Campus, and the Director of Operating Theatres, at the EWMSC. |
His inaugural professorial lecture examined a sensitive healthcare issue: “Keeping ICU patients alive—at all costs?” and Professor Hariharan Seetharaman brought his considerable experience in the area of critical care to his presentation on April 12 at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope.