Han Zheng, a Beijing resident, has been providing much-needed assistance to patients who face unfamiliar and sometimes overwhelming hospital visits. According to Zheng, more people are availing outpatient services at hospitals in the capital following the Spring Festival holiday. He believes that the pandemic is one of the reasons why patients are lining up for treatment, especially those who postponed their hospital visits before.
Zheng’s services include helping patients with registration, providing information on their medical procedures, and offering support during consultations with doctors. He believes that many patients find the process of going to the hospital daunting and that his help can alleviate some of their anxieties. Zheng’s assistance has been particularly helpful for elderly patients who may struggle with navigating the hospital system.
Zheng’s motivation for offering his services comes from his own experiences. He recalls accompanying his father to the hospital when he was a child and feeling overwhelmed by the experience. Zheng believes that by providing assistance to patients, he is paying forward the help that his family received during their own hospital visits.
Zheng’s services have become increasingly popular among patients, and he has been featured in local news outlets. His work has also inspired others to provide similar assistance to patients in need. Zheng hopes that his efforts will encourage more people to lend a helping hand to those who may be struggling with navigating the healthcare system.
In China, the healthcare system can be complex and confusing for patients. Many hospitals require patients to register and pay for their visits in advance, and patients may need to navigate a maze of departments and offices to receive the care they need. Zheng’s assistance provides a valuable service for patients who may feel lost or intimidated by the system.
Zheng’s work is a reminder of the power of individual actions to make a difference in people’s lives. By offering his time and expertise, he is helping patients to receive the care they need in a compassionate and supportive manner. His example serves as an inspiration to others who may be looking for ways to contribute to their communities and make a positive impact on the lives of others.
Han Zheng is a medical guide who started his career in this field about 13 months ago. He found that many patients were struggling to find their way around hospitals, so he decided to help them. Han is now in his mid-30s and has been working as a medical guide ever since.
During the COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing in December, Han observed that the respiration and internal medicine departments of the hospitals were full to bursting with patients. At the same time, the rest of the departments had very few patients. Han recalls that this created a challenging situation for both the patients and the hospital staff.
Despite the challenges, Han continued to provide his services as a medical guide to the patients visiting the hospitals. He accompanied them to their appointments, helped them navigate the hospital, and even assisted with translating medical instructions for them. His efforts were greatly appreciated by the patients and their families.
As a result of the pandemic, more patients are now seeking outpatient services in hospitals. Han believes that this is due to the fact that the pandemic has passed and many patients who postponed their hospital visits before are now seeking treatment. As a medical guide, Han is committed to providing assistance to these patients and making their hospital visits less overwhelming.
Han started working as a medical guide about 13 months ago after he found that many patients were struggling to find their way around hospitals. In recent times, Han has noticed an increase in the number of patients availing outpatient services across the capital following the Spring Festival holiday.
In late December, Han accompanied one of his regular clients, who had been suffering from an enduring pain in her lungs for half a month, to the emergency room. When they arrived, the emergency room was crowded, and it took them five hours to see the doctor and another three hours to take the CT scan, which was longer than usual. Han kept his patient company throughout the wait and helped to make the process easier for her.
The patient was in her 30s and was working and living alone in Beijing, with her family far away. Han provided her with emotional support and even ran some errands for her at the hospital when needed. It is common for patients to feel lonely and overwhelmed during hospital visits, especially when they are away from their loved ones. Han’s presence and assistance not only eased the patient’s stress but also helped her to navigate the hospital procedures efficiently.
As a medical guide, Han understands the importance of providing support and care to patients during their hospital visits. He has witnessed firsthand the positive impact that his assistance can have on patients, and he hopes to continue to provide his services to those in need. Han’s compassionate approach towards his patients has earned him a reputation as a reliable and trustworthy medical guide in Beijing.
Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Han has remained committed to his work and has continued to provide assistance to his patients. His dedication to helping others and his positive attitude have made him an essential part of the healthcare system in Beijing. Han’s work as a medical guide not only helps patients but also supports the healthcare system by ensuring that patients are able to navigate the hospital procedures efficiently.
Han Zheng is a medical guide in Beijing who provides assistance to patients in navigating hospitals. In December, when many of his patients faced difficulty getting an appointment with the right doctors or didn’t want to be alone at the hospital, they turned to Han for help. Despite having contracted COVID-19 at the beginning of December, Han answered their calls after taking a weeklong rest.
Most of the orders Han received during this period were from patients he had previously helped. Some of his patients had left Beijing but still had unresolved medical issues, such as pending test results. Han recalls a patient from Henan province who had undergone a bone operation in 2015 and needed Han’s assistance in finding information about the steel nails that had been used in the operation.
Han is in his mid-30s and started working as a medical guide about 13 months ago. He became a medical guide after realizing that many patients struggled to navigate hospitals. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Beijing in December, the respiratory and internal medicine departments were overflowing with patients. However, other departments experienced a decline in patient numbers.
Han accompanied one of his patients to an emergency treatment in late December. The patient, a woman in her 30s, had been suffering from enduring pain in her lungs for half a month. The emergency room was crowded, and it took five hours for them to see the doctor, and another three hours to take a CT scan, which would have taken only two hours before. Han kept her company throughout the entire wait and helped to make the experience more comfortable. The patient was working and living alone in Beijing, with her family far away, and would occasionally ask Han to run errands for her at the hospital.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Han remains committed to helping his patients. He believes that more people are seeking outpatient services in hospitals across the capital following the Spring Festival holiday, possibly due to the pandemic’s subsiding. Han’s dedication to his patients has made a significant difference in their hospital experiences, providing them with the necessary support and guidance to navigate the often-overwhelming healthcare system.
Han Zheng’s work as a medical guide started about 13 months ago when he realized that many patients were struggling to navigate the hospital system. His services have become increasingly popular, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing. Han’s clients are mostly elderly people with chronic diseases whose children cannot always accompany them to the hospital. His service also caters to patients from outside Beijing who are not familiar with the medical system in the capital.
When Han himself contracted COVID-19 in December, he took a week-long rest before returning to work. Most of his clients during this period were people he had worked with before, some of whom had left Beijing but still had unresolved medical issues, such as pending test results. Han’s work involves finding the right doctors for his clients and accompanying them during their hospital visits. He also assists with paperwork, medical history retrieval, and errands within the hospital.
Han usually takes two orders per day, each lasting at least an hour, and charges between 300-500 yuan ($44.3-$73.8) depending on the length of the service time. He wears two facial masks while working and is familiar with the hospital’s layout, having spent more than a year on the job. His expertise has made him a reliable guide to many of his clients, who often call him during emergencies.
Han was born in Chifeng, North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and was engaged in international trade before starting his own business in 2018. However, the pandemic hit his business hard, and he was forced to look for other means of income. While scrolling through the video-sharing platform Douyin, he came across a video about medical guides and decided to give it a try. With Beijing’s rich medical resources, Han knew that elderly people with chronic diseases would appreciate his service.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, there are 264 million people on the Chinese mainland who are 60 or older, accounting for 18.7 percent of the total population. This number is expected to surpass 300 million by 2025. Moreover, the number of frail seniors over the age of 60 who have difficulty performing everyday tasks reached 42 million in 2020, according to the National Working Commission on Aging. Han was encouraged by the Chinese government’s move to address the needs of the aging population, and he saw an opportunity to be of assistance.
To build trust with potential clients, Han opened an account on Douyin using his real name and identity card’s photo. He believes that showing his true information is essential to earning the trust of potential clients. Han feels fulfilled by his work, and he takes pride in helping his clients navigate the hospital system. His services have become essential to many of his clients, who appreciate his expertise and guidance during their hospital visits.
Han not only utilized his language skills to cater to the needs of local patients but also advertised his abilities in English and Arabic to cater to international patients. With the aim of improving the quality of his service, he began to study hospitals and their specializations as well as medical treatment procedures for various diseases. Han’s objective was to save time for patients and to provide them with accurate and efficient answers to their questions.
Initially, Han was taken aback when people began to approach him with their queries. However, he quickly adapted and began to anticipate the questions patients might ask. His expertise in navigating the healthcare system, coupled with his proficiency in multiple languages, proved to be an advantage for patients seeking medical care in Beijing.
As he continued to work as a medical guide, Han’s knowledge and understanding of the healthcare system in Beijing expanded. He developed a keen eye for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different hospitals and medical facilities, allowing him to offer tailored advice to his clients. Moreover, he understood that patients who visited Beijing from other cities or countries might be unfamiliar with the medical system in the capital, and he made it his priority to provide them with a smooth and hassle-free experience.
As a result of his efforts, Han gained a reputation as a reliable and efficient medical guide. Patients were satisfied with his service and often recommended him to others in need. Word of mouth proved to be an effective marketing tool, and Han’s business continued to grow steadily.
Despite the challenges that arose due to the pandemic, Han persevered and remained committed to providing the best possible service to his clients. His passion for helping others, combined with his knowledge and experience, has made him a valuable asset in the healthcare industry in Beijing.
To better serve his patients, Han proactively sought out information on common medical issues and made connections with relevant hospitals. This allowed him to quickly answer patients’ questions and save them time. He also made sure to visit new hospitals ahead of time to familiarize himself with their treatment processes and the locations of all departments and examination rooms. By doing so, Han was able to better navigate the hospital and offer patients helpful suggestions.
Moreover, Han took the time to acquire detailed information about his patients’ conditions, which he would then study before offering any suggestions. This personalized approach allowed him to provide tailored advice and recommendations to his patients. With his dedication and effort to continuously improve his knowledge and understanding of the medical field, Han was able to provide his patients with a level of service and care that they may not have been able to receive otherwise.
According to Han, he is now able to offer two to three public hospitals immediately to patients as soon as they tell him their problems. This is a great improvement from when he first started and was caught off guard by patients approaching him with questions. Han’s increasing dealings with patients have helped him see the value of his work. He witnessed a parent struggling to take care of a sick child in a big hospital and realized that his work was worth it whenever he could save patients procedural trouble like pre-diagnosis consultation, medical report, and medication pickups.
Han’s Douyin account has also helped him gain more attention to his business. In July, he shared a video of parents at the Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, in the middle of the night, which received over 130,000 views. Han believes that his career is on the rise as there are now thousands of medical guides, as opposed to only dozens when he started.
Despite the growing popularity of medical guidance as an emerging career, there are currently no agreed-upon standards for safety and sustainable development. Han recognizes that there is a lot at stake, particularly when clients withhold critical information, such as an infectious disease or accidents that may have occurred to patients in their old age. Therefore, the development of clear and specific guidelines for medical guidance will be crucial in ensuring the safety and sustainability of this emerging industry.
Overall, Han’s experience as a medical guide has shown him the importance of his work in helping patients navigate the complex world of healthcare. As more people turn to medical guidance services, it is vital to establish clear and agreed-upon standards for safety and sustainable development in this emerging industry.
Wang Hui, the operations manager of a medical guide service company in Hefei, Anhui province, expressed concerns about the use of intelligent medical services for elderly people seeking medical treatment. While changes in family structure and an aging population have increased demand for medical guide services, Wang believes that technological solutions may not always be accessible or user-friendly for older patients.
According to Wang, the increasing need for better medical treatment in first-tier cities has also contributed to the growth of the medical guide services industry. As such, there has been a rising demand for professional and reliable assistance in navigating medical procedures and hospital protocols.
Song Yu, a research assistant at the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, confirms the need for medical guide services and explains that hospitals have established guide desks or provided guidance for newly admitted patients. However, he also emphasizes the importance of offering professional training to related personnel to improve the quality of service and prevent conflicts between medical guides and patients.
The demand for medical guide services has not only arisen from the changing demographics but also from the complexities of modern healthcare systems. Patients often require assistance in navigating the maze of administrative and medical procedures, and a medical guide can provide valuable support in this regard.
Despite the growing need for medical guide services, there are concerns about the quality and reliability of some providers. Some may lack the necessary training or expertise to offer effective guidance, while others may engage in unethical practices to maximize profits. Thus, establishing professional standards and regulations in the industry is crucial for ensuring patient safety and sustainable development.
In summary, the demand for medical guide services is a real and growing phenomenon, driven by changes in family structure, an aging population, and the increasing complexities of modern healthcare systems. While technological solutions such as intelligent medical services have their benefits, there are concerns about their accessibility and suitability for elderly patients. To ensure the quality and reliability of medical guide services, it is essential to provide professional training and establish industry standards and regulations.
Associate Professor Wang Yunfei, from Anhui University’s School of Sociology and Political Science, believes that authorities need to issue guidelines to regulate the entry threshold, medical guide service content, and fees. In doing so, it will help ensure that medical guides are properly qualified and trained to provide safe and effective services to patients. Yunfei also suggests that both parties sign a contract to clarify their rights and obligations to avoid any misunderstandings or disputes.
Being a medical guide has given Han a unique insight into his clients’ lives, especially during their weakest moments when they are faced with pain and life-or-death choices. He is there to provide comfort and support to patients, helping them understand their diagnoses and offering suggestions for treatment options. Some of his clients are young people who cannot take time off work to go to the hospital, while others may suffer from panic attacks and struggle to comprehend medical jargon. Han’s services are vital in bridging the communication gap between doctors and patients.
When Han receives bad medical reports for his clients, he must think carefully about how to deliver the news and provide recommendations for next steps. It is a delicate balance between being honest and empathetic, and it requires him to draw upon his extensive medical knowledge and interpersonal skills. Han takes pride in his work, knowing that he can make a positive impact on people’s lives by saving them time and reducing their stress.
Looking ahead, Han plans to continue reaching out to those who need his services. He sees the increasing demand for medical guide services as a sign of their importance, particularly in large cities where the healthcare system can be overwhelming for patients. In September, the Beijing Municipal Health Commission invited him to participate in a survey on the development of the medical-guide sector. Han sees this as a positive step towards standardizing the profession and ensuring that medical guides are held to a high level of professionalism and accountability.
Overall, the emergence of medical guide services reflects the changing needs of society, including changes in family structure, an aging population, and a growing demand for better healthcare services. As medical guide services become more prevalent, it is essential to ensure that they are regulated and held to a high standard of quality. By doing so, we can provide patients with the support they need to navigate the complexities of the healthcare system, ensuring they receive the best possible care.
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