Chanut “Work” Pongpanich

Patient Relationship Management, Bangkok Hospital

Industry : The Arts

Chanut uses his background as a theatre arts graduate from Chulalongkorn University to enhance healthcare providers’ service, focusing on empathic communication skills that build rapport between doctor and patient. The pandemic meant he had to initiate online courses for doctors and nurses who were suffering from task overload, and to help reduce the burnout rate. For this, he drew on his experience as an acting teacher for children with
special needs, adapting performing art techniques to enhance their social skills. For his master’s degree research, he created a sensory theatre for audiences with autism. What he is most proud of, however, is setting up a sensory children’s theatre in his house with his mother, a retired psychiatric nurse for children with autism. He has also embarked on a PhD programme on empathic communication which has been under the radar in Thailand so
far. He hopes to convey a message about diversity and equality through his work. He is inspired by the magic of story-telling in William Saroyan’s “The Human Comedy”.