A Letter from the Janitor to the CEO - This Week's Medical Grand Rounds

This week's Grand Rounds, a summary of the best posts in the medical blogospere, is hosted at Hospital Impact.org. The format is also interesting - it is written as a letter from a janitor to the CEO of the hospital. After his shift is over and on his way out, the janitor meets different medical bloggers and writes about his conversations with them.

At the end, the host of the Grand Rounds shares a story which shows that all of us of who work in the hospital are part of a big team. Even the smallest player in this team has an impact and unique significance.

"I once spoke with one of the most famous hospital CEOs in America. Out of all the things he could have shared with me that day, he talked to me about a cleaning lady in his hospital. This is the story he told... A patient was in a coma and her grieving family sat around her. The patient had been completely unresponsive for weeks. Then, a particular cleaning lady unknowingly and deeply moved this family - simply by doing her job with a smile and by singing/humming a sweet tune under her breathe. The family noticed that the patient actually responded to this far-off cleaning lady's humming ever so slightly - a twitch of the eye, a tear. The family asked the cleaning lady to come in and sing to their loved one in the coma. Without hesitating, the cleaning lady put down her mop, came into the room, and sang an angelic tune. It was a tender, moving moment for the whole family - another tear flowed down the patient's face. A few days later, the patient died, but the family was so moved by the event, that they wrote the hospital, wanting to thank that anonymous cleaning lady. This week's grand rounds is dedicated to that unnamed hospital cleaning lady, and to all those in healthcare who do their job with a smile on their face and a sweet tune on their hearts."

--- Tony, Hospital Impact.org

The Grand Rounds archive is here.