At first glance, “social support” and “medical institution” seem like disjoint ideas. This is due to the stigma that hospitals and other medical services prioritize the biomedical approach: relying on education and medical jargon to maintain a scientific outlook. However, these seemingly independent spheres often intertwine, as healthcare centers incorporate social support systems in all levels of care. These systems primarily target the physical and emotional burdens rather than symptoms, allowing the patient greater relief through care. Because healthcare extends beyond treatments and diagnoses, social support systems provide essential supplementary patient care.
Hospitals already utilize aspects resembling social support networks in their treatments. Healthcare volunteers are essential in providing emotional support to patients and their families. In a study published by the British Medical Journal, nurses observed that patient and family well-being improved when volunteers spent 12 hours a day with hospice care patients and their families (Bearne and Parry, 2016). Patients and their families are often distressed due to bills, grief, and evaluation of treatment options. When volunteers uninvolved with the medical process provide an emotional support system, these burdens can be lifted, allowing the patient to step away from biomedical thinking and focus on keeping their spirits high. For example, Martha Mac Harris, an educator who was hospitalized plenty as a child, reflects joyfully that “everyone seemed to really care, so I loved the hospital” (Harris, 2018, p. 40). The hospital is daunting to most, but Harris maintained good spirits due to the social support system around her, including nurses and other patients. As they are treated, socially supported patients experience a higher quality of life, exemplifying a large benefit of these systems in hospitals.
Nurses also benefit from the additional line of social support. In a study evaluating the effectiveness of social support on turnover intention (TI), it was found that “social support as an effective resource can help nurses cope with work pressure, alleviate negative emotions, and reduce TI” (Chen et al., 2024). The primary role of a nurse is to treat the patient, paying particular attention to vital signs and medication administration. However, with emotionally unstable patients, nurses are often called upon to serve as pseudo-therapists, solving emotional problems outside of their purview. As Lois Laws, a registered emergency department nurse, outlines, “sometimes you get so busy and wrapped up in just getting things done, that you rush people” (Laws, 2019, p. 25). Poor nurse-patient interactions due to busy schedules can add to the stress of the isolated patient and the overworked nurse. With increased levels of social support, either from other nurses or volunteers claiming the burden, nurses aren’t forced to be those therapists anymore, allowing them to have a clearer focus on the work they are trained for. Nurses are quintessential to hospital success, as they maintain the safety of the patient, stability of the common patient-provider interaction, and serve as the primary line of communication to doctors. For this reason, reducing nurse burnout through social support systems benefits hospitals, which are overflowing with patients and require all available help.
Outside of hospitals, primary care physicians are tasked with providing social support to their patients through continuity. According to an oral interview with Dr. George Gould, a part-time physician, patients are not seeking a doctor who disappears after one visit. Instead, people “want to have a doctor who they see, and see most of the time” (Gould, 2018, p. 34). People want a doctor who keeps their interests at heart, but if a different doctor treats a patient every time, that doctor has no way of knowing minute details about the patient. This not only leads to key omissions that affect treatment processes, but also to a lack of connection and trust between the patient and doctor from a lack of correspondence. When doctors stick with the same patients over time, they develop deeper connections, allowing the patients to trust that their doctor has their best interests in mind. Studies have confirmed a significant correlation between care continuity and patient satisfaction, further supporting the notion that patients prefer having the same doctor (Saultz and Albedaiwi, 2004). By alleviating patient doubt, primary care physicians support their patients and allow them to focus on health, not their doctor.
Currently, most of the efforts to increase social support in healthcare surround increasing accessibility. In 2024, the North Carolina Rural Hospital Program received over $2.4 million in federal funding, allocated towards the maintenance and improvement of 31 rural hospitals (NC HHS, 2024). These hospitals, because of their smaller size and more rural location, have larger financial vulnerability, considering that most patients utilizing them don’t have insurance or use Medicare or Medicaid. Government grants allow hospitals like these to remain open, creating access to healthcare services for many lower-class citizens who rely on their services. Funding also allows these hospitals to improve their services, which in turn can provide higher quality care and spread the network of hospital support among a larger crowd.
However, access isn’t entirely proximity – it also involves physically reaching the hospital. For this reason, transportation services have evolved into a social support system intertwined with hospitals. Ebony Talley-Brame, a business owner in Warren County, North Carolina, has begun efforts to bring a low-cost transportation service to nearby hospitals for the people in her area (Talley-Brame, 2018, p. 22). Simply having hospitals isn’t enough. If someone is in a condition that they need to be hospitalized, they may still have to travel miles, which is incredibly challenging in distress. Instead, services like Talley-Brame’s provide a method by which people can get help and prioritize their health for a lower cost, supporting patients who can’t afford ambulances or other transport methods. By lowering the cost of seeking healthcare, social support systems increase the range of citizens who utilize healthcare services, promoting healthier societies.
Overall, the overlap between social support networks and healthcare institutions is larger than seen at first glance. Through a plethora of social access points, these networks of care allow patients to experience less emotional burden of care, promoting stress-free health visits. Within a hospital, individuals such as volunteers support patients and their families, while nurses act in support of each other. In primary care offices, it is the doctor who supports the emotions of the patient. In terms of access, it is the government and other generous individuals who support patients who cannot afford to travel long distances for care. While hospitals prioritize biomedicine in their treatment of patients, social support bridges the emotional and financial gaps, allowing the primary focus of patients within healthcare institutions to be their health.
Works Cited
Bearne, Julia, and Laura Parry. “P-172 Trained Volunteers: Empowering and Supporting Dying Hospital Patients and Their Carers.” BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, British Medical Journal Publishing Group, 1 Nov. 2016, spcare.bmj.com/content/6/Suppl_1/A71.3.
Interview with Martha Mac Harris by Caroline Efird, 14 June 2018 (Y-0029), in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Chen, Y., Zhou, X., Bai, X., Liu, B., Chen, F., Chang, L., & Liu, H. (2024, June 6). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of social support on turnover intention in clinical nurses. Frontiers in public health. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11187297/#sec23
Interview with Lois Laws by Caroline Efird, 18 July 2019 (Y-0072), in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Interview with George Gould by Joanna Ramirez, 26 June 2018 (Y-0026), in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Saultz, J. W., & Albedaiwi, W. (2004). Interpersonal continuity of care and patient satisfaction: A critical review. Annals of family medicine. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1466724/#sec3
“North Carolina Rural Hospital Program.” North Carolina Department of Human Health Services, 2024, www.ncdhhs.gov/nc-dhhs-orh-hospital-program-one-pager/open.
Interview with Ebony Talley-Brame by Darius Scott, 22 June 2018 (Y-0054), in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.