Jane Dutton tells CNN little moments can save patients’ lives
June 15, 2020
CNN quotes Center for Positive Organizations (CPO) co-founder Jane Dutton in the article “He was a Covid-19 patient. She cleaned his hospital room. Their unexpected bond saved his life.”
The article tells the story of a hospital housekeeper who encouraged a patient severely ill with COVID-19 not to lose hope. She urged him to keep fighting for his life and chatted with him about the weather, family and faith. He says their interactions helped him to survive.
“It only takes 40 seconds of a caring interaction to change a patient in a way that affects their whole health trajectory,” says Dutton, who has studied the impact hospital housekeepers and other ‘invisible workers’ can have.
Dutton is a CPO core faculty member and the Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Emerita Professor of Business Administration and Psychology at the University of Michigan.