From Control to Care: Reclaiming Power, Voice, and Dignity in Healthcare

“We don’t heal through control. We heal through compassion, belonging, and shared humanity.” - Mary Coughlin

Power in healthcare isn’t something we think about — but we all feel it. We feel it when a policy blocks access, when a voice is dismissed, and when control is prioritized over compassion.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can reclaim healthcare from control. We can move toward a future where care, not control, drives decision-making.

This post reflects on the journey through the entire series — from the impact of hierarchies, policies, and positional power to the experiences of moral injury in clinicians. It offers a call to action for collective change and asks each of us to consider where we hold power in healthcare and how we can use it to prioritize care over control.

Reflection on the Journey So Far

Over the past 5 posts, we’ve explored how systems of power shape healthcare in unseen but deeply felt ways. Here’s a quick look back at where we’ve been:

Part 1: Systems of Power in Healthcare

We uncovered how power works in healthcare, not just at the top, but in everyday decisions that affect patients, families, and clinicians.

Part 2: Catholic Healthcare & Ethical Directives 

We examined how religious directives prioritize doctrine over compassion, often leaving patients and clinicians in painful, powerless positions.

Part 3: Medical Hierarchies & Authority

We explored how hierarchies determine who gets to speak and who gets to be heard — and how care suffers when nurses, parents, and frontline clinicians are dismissed.

Part 4: Policy as Power

We saw how hospital policies, like visitation rules and discharge deadlines, create separation, harm, and trauma for families and clinicians.

Part 5: Moral Injury for Clinicians

We revealed how power-driven policies and hierarchies cause moral injury for clinicians, forcing them to act against their values and harming their well-being.

Now, it’s time to shift from harm to hope.

From Control to Care: A Vision for the Future

If we want to reclaim healthcare from control, we have to ask a different question: Instead of asking, “How do we maintain control?” we need to ask, “How do we create connection?”

When we shift from control to care, everything changes. Voice and choice are restored. Human dignity is honored. Care becomes relational, not transactional.

Here’s what this shift looks like in practice:

🌱 From “Power-Over” to “Power-With” — Power doesn’t have to be a tool of dominance. Relational power invites shared decision-making, shared learning, and collective care.

🌱 From “Visitation” Policies to “Parents as Partner” — Instead of controlling who can enter the NICU, we create policies that honor parents as essential members of the care team.

🌱 From Protocols to Personalization — Protocols aren’t bad — but when they’re rigid and untouchable, they harm care. Personalized care plans that center human experience ensure that policies serve people, not the other way around.

🌱 From Isolation to Belonging — Patients, parents, and clinicians deserve to feel like they belong. When policies create exclusion, separation, or isolation, it erodes trust. Belonging is a fundamental human need, and it must be built into healthcare systems.

The Role of Trauma-Informed Developmental Care (TIDC) in Reclaiming Care

How do we create systems that prioritize care over control? One answer is Trauma-Informed Developmental Care (TIDC).

TIDC prioritizes connection, compassion, and care over control. It asks us to think about how care is experienced — not just by patients, but by families, nurses, and clinicians too.

How does TIDC make this shift possible?

• Restores Relational Authority: TIDC ensures that the voices of parents, nurses, and frontline clinicians are centered, not dismissed.

• Honors Voice & Choice: Just as parents deserve voice and choice in their baby's care, nurses and clinicians also deserve voice and choice in how care is delivered.

• Focuses on Healing Environments: TIDC shifts from rigid, rule-bound spaces to environments that prioritize healing and belonging for all humans in the care space.

When we use TIDC as a framework, we create systems of care that center healing, connection, and shared humanity.

Call to Action: Reclaim Care from Control

We have a choice to make: Will we continue to prioritize control, or will we create systems of care?

This isn’t just a question for hospital executives and policymakers. It’s a question for every single one of us.

• If you’re a nurse, you have power in how you advocate for your patients and how you support your team.

• If you’re a parent, you have power in how you advocate for your baby’s care.

• If you’re a leader, you have power in how you design policies that center people, not processes.

Power isn’t something to hoard. It’s something to share.

Now is the time to reclaim healthcare from control. Join the movement.

🌿 Here’s how you can get involved:

• Sign up for the Caring Essentials newsletter to stay connected and inspired.

• Join the Trauma-Informed Professional (TIP) Certificate Program and learn how to reclaim care in your own practice.

• Book a workshop or training for your team to create a more relational, trauma-informed approach to care.

The shift from control to care isn’t just possible — it’s already happening. Be part of it.

Reflection Prompt

If you could change one policy, process, or rule in healthcare that prioritizes control over care, what would it be? Drop your reflections below — your voice matters.

Take care and care well,

Mary