MadAlegria – Hospital clowns: multidisciplinary approach for health humanization

Abstract

The objective of this article is to describe the project MadAlegria as a multi-disciplinary proposal of humanizationin healthcare. MadAlegria is a multidisciplinary extension project of the School of Medicine of University of São Paulo initiated in August 2010. The project includes students of Nursing, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, Medicine, Nutrition and Occupational Therapy, who develop cultural, scientific and educational activities related with the humanization of the relationship with the patient and with the health professionals. The students act as hospital clowns and storytellers as a vehicle for the engagement.The project aims to tendering the hospital environment for patients and for the health professionals and to influencing the education of heath care students, seeking to shape differentiated professionals that can work in an interdisciplinary and humanized way. In two years of existence 78 people were trained as hospital clowns and 35 underwent a storytelling course. In this period the students made 2020 visits as hospital clowns, targeting a population of adult patients. The post visit reports indicate a positive change in the quality of the student-patient contact, as well as a more affective and understanding approach by the student. Patients refer satisfaction and rarely reject the clown’s presence. These contacts offer the students the opportunity to get closer to patients with no professional expectations, but with freedom to listen and to empathize with the other’s pain and sorrow and eventually help minimizing it. The MadAlegria program supports the discussion on the importance of humanization strategies during hospital care activities as well as in the education of health professionals.