Transforming Healthcare through Caregiver Training: My firsthand experience

On 7 December 1984, you could hear a young boy running around a government hospital yelling “Meri choti baingan ho gayi” (My little sister has been born). That young boy was me. Since then, the same hospital has seen me run around many times, as a child and eventually, as an adult. The hospital was run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and had some really capable doctors – one of them my father.

A large part of my understanding of healthcare comes from two very important people – my father who was not only a medical professional but also a medical administrator for most of his life, and my aunt who has been a very vocal voice on healthcare infrastructure in India. So, naturally, I decided to focus on Healthcare at Societal Thinking, as an homage to my father and my aunt.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research to witness Noora Health’s Care Companion Program (CCP). Care Companion PRogram involves creating a programme for caregiving training within established healthcare systems. The caregiver training model provides basic yet vital care knowledge through trusted providers like hospital staff using the ‘Train the Trainer’ model to the patients and their caregivers.?

Noora Health has been making significant strides in empowering families to take a more active role in patient care. At the heart of their mission is a simple but powerful idea – equipping family members with the knowledge and skills they need to care for patients at home, thereby reducing hospital readmissions and improving patient outcomes. During this visit, I had the opportunity to observe the pivotal role nurses play in this initiative and experience firsthand how the ‘Train the Trainer’ model is creating impact.

As I moved from one ward to another, I witnessed nurses conducting training sessions for family members of patients recovering from heart surgeries. In a ward filled with anxious faces, these nurses provided calm, steady support. Their task was twofold: to ensure that caregivers understood the medical aspects of care, such as medication schedules and wound care, and to build confidence in these caregivers so they could handle the emotional and psychological aspects of patient recovery.

I realised that curative care is often overlooked as it is not being administered by trained professionals. The simple act of empowering people from various backgrounds to administer care for their loved ones is incredible, for me.?

What makes the caregiver training unique is the structured approach that Noora Health brings to the table. The training isn’t ad-hoc or informal; it’s methodical and evidence-based, designed to cater to the needs of both patients and their caregivers and most importantly, it is empowering.?

One of the most moving aspects of my visit was witnessing the emotional transformation of the caregivers themselves. Many of the families I spoke to admitted they had been terrified at the thought of taking their loved ones home after a major surgery. The hospital, with its doctors, nurses, and medical equipment, felt like a safety net that would be taken away as soon as they left. But, after going through the caregiver training, these same families expressed a newfound sense of confidence and hope. One woman, whose husband had just undergone a bypass surgery, told me, “Before the training, I was scared. I didn’t know if I could handle the responsibility. But now, after the nurse showed me how to care for him and what to watch out for, I feel ready. I feel like I can do this.”

This sense of empowerment is at the core of what Noora Health aims to achieve. It’s not just about reducing readmission rates or improving clinical outcomes – though these are important goals – it’s about giving families the knowledge, skills, and emotional support they need to care for their loved ones with confidence.

It has been a time of very deep introspection for me, I cannot help but think to the times I would sit and chat with my father and my aunt on what healthcare means to someone who walks in from the street hoping to receive medical aid, on how scared someone feels without the right knowledge and framework to care for their loved ones, the visit answered a lot of those questions for me and I know I am in the right place witnessing the right things.