Using Photographs to Bring Dignity to Patients and Help Clinicians Find Meaning and Joy in Work

BACKGROUND: The importance of dignity in health care is well described, yet limited interventions exist to improve dignity, particularly patient-driven interventions. OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that patient-selected photographs at the bedside would impact patients' sense of dignity and clinicians' sense of meaningful work, stimulate conversation between patients and clinicians, and serve as a visual and patient-driven complement to the Patient Dignity Question (PDQ). METHODS: Patients admitted to three units at an academic medical center displayed photographs above their head of bed and were interviewed for this study. We used thematic content analysis to compare themes extracted from patient interviews, the PDQ, and clinician surveys. RESULTS: Eight themes emerged from patient interviews (n = 19): conveying goals, joy, capturing the patient's spirit, faith and spirituality, sense of belonging, physical appearance and health, stimulating conversation and meaningful connections, and humanizing the patient. The same themes emerged from the PDQ, with the exception of physical appearance and health. Notably, analysis of the clinician surveys (n = 40) yielded six similar themes: conveying goals, joy, stimulating conversation and meaningful connections, humanizing the patient, meaningful work, and compassion and empathy. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-selected photographs at the bedside impact both patients and clinicians by stimulating conversation and meaningful connections, humanizing patients, and fostering meaning and joy in work. Photographs and the PDQ provide a similar window into personhood, thereby supporting the use of a photograph as a visual and patient-driven complement to the PDQ.