Receptiveness and humanization from the perspective of anesthesiologists.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Receptiveness is a tool that brings contributions for health care humanization, especially with regard to its practice in the field of Anesthesiology. The aim was to investigate through the report of anesthesiologists the understanding of the receptiveness phenomenon among these professionals. METHODS This is a descriptive qualitative research held at the Hospital Universitário Lauro Wanderley (HULW), in the city of João Pessoa, PB. The sample consisted of 16 attending anesthesiologists, 25% female doctors and 75% male doctors. Data were collected through interviews guided by two semi-structured questions from September to October 2010. Data analysis was performed using the technique of Collective Subject Discourse (CSD). RESULTS The anesthesiologists' answer to the following question was considered as this study's result: "What do you think about the practice of receptiveness as a strategy to humanize the doctor-patient relationship?" The doctors' CSD presented two central ideas: 1) a holistic approach to the patient; 2) a strategy that improves the doctor-patient relationship. When asked about the strategies adopted by them to humanize the relationship with the patient at the time of reception, their reports were organized based on three central ideas: 1) observation of patients' rights; 2) therapeutic communication; 3) preanesthetic visit. It was found that the physicians involved in the research recognized the value of receptiveness as a strategy to humanize the doctor-patient relationship. CONCLUSIONS The receptivity to the patient in the course of anesthesia is very important because it allows the professional to perform a qualified hearing of the patient's history, together with the humanized care process, which enables the improvement of the interaction between doctor and patient.