ffirst impression
IStill trust
Reducate fear
Sincere caring
Teveryone
The first impression is of the utmost importance
“For the first impression there is no second chance.” The non-verbal message your patient receives in the first few seconds affects how they perceive you, the rest of the staff and their overall experience in the department and in the hospital. To better understand how your patients see you, ask another staff member for feedback on how you could make a better first impression. We can all improve in this area and an outside observer can be the mirror to see more clearly habits that need to be adjusted.
1) Body Language – Before greeting the patient and family, pause and take a deep breath to slow down. You don’t want to seem rushed through that critical first contact, no matter how busy it is. Keep your focus on the here and now, not on the last case or lunch in 30 minutes. This may seem trivial, but it has a major impact on how the patient perceives how you care about your work and how you value them and will take care of them.
2) Appearance: Yours – Don’t underestimate the power of a clean and wrinkle-free scrub, name tag and proper grooming. If you get blood or betadine stains anywhere, change your clothes. A patient will not trust a nurse or department that they perceive as unkempt because this translates into a slovenly and ambivalent attitude towards their work.
The department: The external appearance is crucial for the department and especially for the treatment room. Ensure that contrast media and blood spatter are removed from the C-arm, monitors and other objects that patients see when they are sitting or lying on the table. Put your head there and take a look up and around to see what you’re seeing. You’ll be surprised. The room should look like the first case of the day for each case. Assess the space for yourself by viewing it as if you were the patient walking through the door.
3) Eye Contact and Facial Expression – This is the most important thing you can do. As you approach the patient, smile at first eye contact as if they were a friend you enjoy seeing. When you introduce yourself, shake his hand firmly and confidently, and as you shake his hand, hold it for three seconds while you look him in the eye and tell him, “We’re going to take very good care of you “. they will believe you Then shake hands with friends and family. These people are your allies in the hospital and after discharge. They will observe the patient better than the ground staff and will assist with patient compliance throughout the recovery process.
Build trust by showing respect
Ask the patient how they are feeling and what they are most worried about. This way they can express themselves to you and you can focus on their personal concerns. Introduce yourself by name and tell them your responsibilities during the procedure. Also mention the other employees and their tasks. Compliment a member of staff or the doctor to increase the patient’s trust in the team.
After the presentation, whisper in the patient’s ear and ask if they would like you to go through their relevant medical history and procedure in the presence of their family/friends, or if they would like you to do it in private. This lets the patient know that you value them and their privacy. If they want privacy, before leading family and friends into a waiting area, ask them if they have any questions and take the time to answer them fully.
Briefly review the patient’s main complaint, their hospitalization and what brought them to this point.
Never lie to a patient or loved one. If they have a complaint, listen to them and tell them what you will do about it and ask them if that will solve their problem.
Reduce Anxiety
All of these FIRST steps will help reduce stress, which will allow you to do a better job by improving the quality of information you provide in your medical history, reducing the amount of medication you need for sedation, and improve their understanding and compliance with intra- and post-procedures.
Laughter is also very helpful. If you have a sense of humor that allows you to make the patient laugh, that’s a big plus. Always be tasteful and considerate in this area.
Sincere care and competence
Your patients know that if you genuinely respect and value them, your subsequent actions will be motivated in their best interests. The best way to communicate that is to show them with your actions.
Touch her in a way that subtly expresses warmth and concern. For example: 1) When examining your IV site, simply do not push around the area with a fingertip, instead hold your hand with yours and cradle your forearm in your other hand, and then gently feel around the IV site. 2) When checking the distal DP and PT pulses, hold the foot in one hand while palpating the pulses with the other. 3) Especially if they have A. Fib. or an SVT, teach him how to take his own pulse by holding his hand, helping him find a radial pulse, and counting it for 15 seconds. They accomplish the same thing, but communicate so much more with an extra touch.
If you have a blanket warmer and if you don’t you must request one, place a warm blanket on them as soon as they arrive in your area or room before the procedure. Also, wrap your pads, defibrillation patch, and grounding pad in a warm blanket before putting them on your patient. If you put these items in the blanket warmer, they will get too hot. The icing on the cake is to put a warm blanket on the table itself just before the patient is brought over. You will extrapolate your attention to these details so that you pay equal attention to all the essential details of the procedure.
If you really want to excel, stand at the patient’s head at the beginning of the procedure and talk to them about how they will feel just before it happens. This will have a tremendously sedative effect and is worth a few mg. by Versed as they will not feel alone and vulnerable. The anxious patients will love you for it.
Teaching
Classes begin when you first meet the patient, their family and friends. I like to tell patients, “This is my first case. Can you tell me why you are here and what you want us to do today.” If you have presented yourself confidently and competently, this will bring a little comic relief and your answer will allow you to assess your level of knowledge. If you appear exhausted, they will believe you and be even more afraid.
Then describe the procedure – specifically mention the sensations you will experience. A flat, hard bed, drugs that make you drowsy or put to sleep by anesthesia, oxygen in your nose, a sharp stinging and burning sensation in your groin from the numbing medicine, pressure like someone is pressing with a finger as the IV line goes in, and racing and pounding in the heart during the test. Assure them that this is all normal. Tell them if they’re not sure about something so you know right away.
If it is not taught, the patient will not know what is normal and what is terribly wrong and will think the worst. This only takes a minute, but it puts the pieces together and helps them understand what has happened to their bodies and their lives.
At the end of the procedure, discuss with the patient and key people the results of the procedure, the next steps in their treatment, and the post-procedure instructions. Hopefully the doctor will have told you by now, but your increased stress levels will result in poor retention and repetition will be required. Also, assign key people to help the patient follow these post-procedure instructions. They are better monitors for problems than the ground staff and also monitor the patient at home.
summary
Patient satisfaction is becoming increasingly important in today’s competitive business environment. Hospitals spend a lot of time and money urging their staff to improve patient satisfaction scores. That includes asking staff to remind patients to “give me a 10 if you get a follow-up call.” This approach affects me like Ipecac. Use the steps outlined above to exceed patient and hospital expectations.
Thanks to Steve W. Miller | #Steps #Patient #Love #Grandmother #Elevate #Patient #Satisfaction
