It can be difficult finding a deep connection with patients when so many different people come through your doors requiring similar assistance.
Finding the way to establish those relationships, however, is absolutely vital in making sure you approach your career in a fulfilling way. Plus, it can build beautiful relationships that give you a greater purpose in life no matter who you are or what you do.
If you are struggling with the interpersonal area of nursing and medical care, here is a guide to deeper connections with patients to get you out of that slump.
Provide a Sense of Belonging
No matter what type of practice you are in, your patients are going to feel like outsiders in a medical setting. Everything is clinical and sterile, health is a sensitive and daunting topic and there are a lot of strangers they are trusting with their personal information and wellbeing.
For this reason, it is especially important to make sure your patients have a sense of belonging for however long they are with you. Make sure they are comfortable and have whatever personalized amenities you can provide, especially when you can incorporate their name.
On a similar note, always be sure to be attentive surrounding names and nicknames. If someone’s legal name is “Amanda” but they go by their middle name “Lynn” almost exclusively, you’ll definitely have a hard time connecting to them by calling them “Amanda” every time you interact.
Though it may be harder to provide this sense of belonging to patients with shorter stays, you can still always be sure to add personal touches to your interactions and show them that you are truly grateful they are with you and trusting you with their care.
Give Individualized Care and Attention
No one wants to feel like they are just another customer in a drive-thru line when it comes to healthcare. It is a deeply personal area and everyone has different needs, concerns and personalities attached to their care.
Dr. Sarah Bennett, a naturopathic physician at Natural Med Doc in Arizona, stresses the importance of personalized care even for seemingly mundane treatments:
“Injections, hormone therapy and booster shots all have the potential to be one-size-fits-all treatments if handled by the wrong physician. But when you really think about, that’s absolutely crazy! This is why I make sure every treatment is tailored to the patient and that I handle them in individualized ways - they aren’t just a number, they are a person who is trusting you.”
Even if a patient is coming in for a routine procedure, it’s important to connect with them and try to understand their individual needs. Just like using their preferred name can go along way, making sure you come to an individualized approach with your care is absolutely vital in establishing a lasting connection.
Have In-Depth and Honest Dialogue
Patients always want to be informed, but obtaining a balance between information overload and withholding facts can be difficult when it comes to medical terminology.
The first thing to keep in mind is that your ultimate relationship with a patient revolves around letting them know what if happening with their body and how you are treating it. This is true for nurses, MDs, naturopathic doctors, specialized doctors and anyone else in this field.
Patients will almost always be able to tell if you are holding back or oversimplifying things for their benefit. Take care to gauge the patient’s existing level of understanding and comprehension so you can actively speak to that level and not make them feel either overwhelmed or patronized.
The other thing to keep in mind is that it is also important to maintain their stress and anxiety. Don’t give them more grueling details about something than necessary (if a patient needs a root canal, you can tell them this without going into excruciating detail about the rooting tooth or painful treatment).
It is also just as important to make sure you give sufficient compassion after delivering information so that they don’t feel like you dropped bombs on their day and then whisked yourself out of the room. If something isn’t going well or is going to be difficult, be sure you remain by their side as they process and make yourself available to answer any questions or give advice.
Of course, this can be extremely difficult on a medical professional’s schedule, so you will also have to find a way to balance this kind of personal interaction with your other patients and job requirements.
Add Personality to Your Interactions
Even though patients are looking for quality treatment above all else, the easiest way to establish a deeper and more fulfilling connection with a patient is to avoid being overly clinical with your approach.
There is always a time and place to leave emotion and personality at the door when it comes to medical care, but that isn’t the case when it comes to the active interactions with the patient. By adding humor, charm, emotion and personal touch to your conversations, you will make them feel much more at ease.
Like with any human interaction, your patients want to feel like they know you. A strictly professional relationship, however attentive, will block them from that experience and make it feel like the “real” you is reserved for when you aren’t on the clock.
Don’t be afraid to express your true personality with patients. Of course, you won’t always be fully compatible with every patient you meet and may find that you have to adjust your levels of expression on a case by case basis, but still be sure that you are opening yourself up to have honest and real interactions and conversations.
In Summary
Being a nurse or doctor is no easy task. It can be draining and difficult, but it ultimately gives you the opportunity to truly make a difference and connect with your patients and their families.
If you are looking for ways to establish deeper connections, make stronger efforts to:
- Provide a sense of belonging
- Give individualized care and attention
- Have in-depth conversations
- Be yourself
This will help to make your patients’ experiences much more positive and to truly feel much more connected to them at the end of the day!
