Humanizing health care is...

• Optimizing human resources, including staff, volunteers and students by understanding, and leveraging their expertise and skills.
• Building the capacity of volunteers to become part of the care team and bridge the service gap
• Putting the health care consumer and their caregivers at the centre of their health care journey, ensuring the service they receive is coordinated, delivered with compassion, maintains their dignity.
• Colleges and universities revising their curricula to teach students to think about the health and care of the whole person, and incorporating more learning about older adults with complex conditions, including palliative and end-of -life care.
• Researchers, health care providers and users working together to find innovative ways to enhance care through technology, design, and the arts.
• Including complementary/alternative therapies as part of a patient's care plan.
• Attending to the spiritual needs of the health care consumer as part of their journey through the health care system.