medical etiquette Archives - Professional Courtesy, LLC

Never Let Your Patients Hear You Complain

August 5, 2021 by procourtesy

Never Let Your Patients Hear You Complain

I’ve always thought it was poor form to let patients hear you complain. Here’s a story to support that idea.

A friend recently shared with me her experience visiting the emergency room with severe abdominal pain. She said that the department was very busy and patients were lined up waiting for beds to become available so they could be admitted. She too, was waiting to be admitted.

During her wait time she was attended to by multiple nursing staff members. She said that her care was okay, but the attitude of the nurses was not as professional as she thought it should be. She said several of them were “complainers.” They were complaining to her about their long hours, staff shortages and some even complained about things going on in their personal lives. This was not what she wanted to hear as she was waiting to be admitted and for test results to see if she needed surgery. She said she wondered if they were giving her their full attention and if her care was suffering. And aside from that, she really didn’t care or want to hear about their problems.

When patients hear healthcare workers complain, it’s bad for business and it’s unprofessional, to be sure. Your workplace problems are not the patient’s problems. And what seem to be harmless enough comments may come back to bite you. To say your short-staffed or complain about administration can suggest to a patient that your organization is poorly run. And it may also lead to them thinking their care was sub-standard, especially if there is a bad outcome. That’s not what you want your patients to walk away with. It can also be the formula for litigation.

Your problems are not the patient’s problems. You should focus on the patient and giving them the best possible care, not on what’s going on in your life.

When at work, keep in mind that you are a reflection of your organization and you should be doing everything you can to help enhance their reputation.

Not complaining about work should apply to your social media platforms as well. Social media is a public venue and what you say there goes out to the world.

If you have complaints about work, take those complaints to your manger or supervisor and see what can be done to resolve the issues. That’s the professional way to do things!

Changing Physicians

June 6, 2017 by procourtesy

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Changing Physicians

If you have had to change physicians over the years, you know how distressing it can be. Especially if you have gone to the same physician for many years. Circumstances change when your physician retires, changes jobs or moves and you suddenly find yourself looking for a new physician or switching to the doctor who took over your previous care givers practice.

To transition to someone new needs some give and take on both sides. Staying open minded to someone else’s delivery of care will help make things go more smoothly. So, some things to keep in mind are:

Make an appointment as soon as you can to meet the new doctor. Meeting them before you get into a medical crisis can be beneficial.

At your first appointment be prepared with your your health history and list of medications.

Understand that a new physician may make changes in your medications. Every physician has their own way of doing things and lean to certain medications over others. And be prepared for some lab work to support the need of certain medications that you have been on for a long period of time.

Don’t expect refills on narcotic medications without seeing the physician first. The new physician will want to review why you are on those medications and confirm that you still need them.

Get to know the new office staff. Learning their names can be helpful when having to call the office for appointments or getting lab results.

If the office uses an automated answering system, ask for extension numbers for the nurse to get through the system faster.

If the new physician does some things differently from your previous doctor that shouldn’t be taken as a criticism of your former physician.

Be prepared to see a nurse practitioner or physician assistant at times. They help support the physician and can help ease a very busy schedule. They will know when to call the physician in for help.

Try to get to know the routine of the new physician’s office. Learning the best times to call the office. Find out when they stop answering the phones and who to talk to about lab results.

Most of all give the new doctor a chance. You might end up liking them as much as you liked your former physician

Communicating with Patients as an Introvert

November 18, 2016 by procourtesy

group of professional medical team closeup

Communication with Patients as an Introvert

Physicians and nurses come in all personality types. Some are out going, funny, charming and gregarious. Others are quieter and more measured in communicating with their patients. There is the type that likes to offer hugs and are very comfortable patting hands and putting a hand on the shoulder, but that doesn’t mean the ones who don’t do that can’t connect effectively with their patients.

Physicians and nurses should be genuine in what ever their communication style is. Their genuineness will come through to their patients.

Some of the most important things to keep in mind and demonstrate with patients are:

Empathy. Empathy allows us to connect to the feelings of the patient and understand what they are going through. It helps patients feel like they matter and are respected and valued. We all have the ability to show empathy toward others. It’s the mirror neurons firing in our brains that allow us to connect on an emotional level.

Body Language. Non verbal communication is powerful. It has been said that 50 to 80 per cent of what we are communicating comes from our body language. So, how you position yourself when involved with the patient speaks volumes.
Upon entering the patients exam room offer a handshake, make good eye contact and sit down. When sitting you are perceived to spend more time with the patient than if standing. And it puts you at their level. It also sends the message that you have time to listen to them.

Balance. When looking at the computer screen and charting make sure you balance looking at the screen with making good eye contact with the patient. A good trick is to look at the patient when asking a question and return to the computer to enter the data.

Listening. Be a good listener. Allow patients to talk without interruption before responding. Pausing before responding lets the patient know you are processing what they have said. It also allows you to formulate your response more effectively.
Lean in when listening and acknowledge what is being said by nodding. Validate verbally what is being said with phrases like; “I understand what you are saying” or paraphrasing back to the patient what has been said.

A quiet, steady approach can achieve a high level of connection too. And do keep in mind that too much touching and patting may be perceived as patronizing. Some of your patients will be the quiet steady type too, and don’t feel the need for hugging and patting. Another important reason to being attentive to each patients needs.

Keeping Your Patients Well Informed

March 26, 2014 by procourtesy

Doctor with female patient

Keeping Your Patients Well Informed

Are you giving your patients adequate information after a surgery or a major procedure? It may be time to re-evaluate your patient education materials and or the way you respond to patient questions.

Post-op and post procedural care is so important to patient outcome and success. And I am often surprised when I hear from family members and friends that they didn’t get adequate information or adequate answers to their questions about recovery expectations.

What may seem obvious to medical people may not seem at all obvious to a patient without any medical background who is experiencing something way out of their comfort zone or area of expertise.

Responding to the question, “when can I expect to start exercising after my surgery?” with “whenever you feel like it,” doesn’t seem to be a good enough response to me. Surely adding some time frame to that response would be more helpful. How about giving the typical recovery time and go from there. Certainly, a patient’s age, general health status and many other factors make each case different, but in the case of patient information, “more is more.”

Take a look at your material, evaluate it and look at it from the perspective of a non-medical person and see if it answers the repeated questions that you get from your patients. If you are getting lots of calls after procedures from your patients with lots of questions, then your material probably isn’t doing the job.

Here are a few things to consider when developing patient information material:

Develop a check list as to what material is given and by whom, to your patients post surgically and post procedural.
Designate a specific person in your office to deliver the information and take the calls after the procedure is over. Giving their name and extension number can save a lot of frustration for the patient who might otherwise have to navigate a difficult phone tree.
Address the most common issues that can go wrong after a certain procedure and what the patient should do about it.
Define clear expectations for optimal recovery. For instance, how much physical therapy is going to be needed to get back up to speed.
Be clear about pain medication; how to take it to get the maximum benefit. And how to get refills if allowed and needed.
Educate the patient on signs of infection and any other serious things that can go wrong after a procedure.
List limitations and general time frame for those limitations.
Make sure the patient has adequate help at home. If they don’t, social services may need to be brought in to evaluate things.

This list could go on and on, but most importantly be open to patient questions. Try to anticipate what could come up and treat patient questions the way you’d like your questions treated in the same situation…with respect. There are no dumb questions in this case.

Do you wish you would have had better information from your physician after a surgery? If so, what?

Seek Patient Permission

January 30, 2014 by procourtesy

Seek Patient Permission

It is not unusual for physicians to be shadowed by all sorts of people. Sometimes, college students will seek out summer jobs in a physician’s office to see if they want to consider a career in medicine or even, nursing. Med students will follow physicians for a period of time to gain some practical experience in their field or specialty. And certainly, in teaching hospitals, it is very common for a group of students and physicians to round on patients.

However, regardless of who is following or shadowing the physician, there are some important considerations to be observed.

Be sure and seek the patient’s permission before bringing an unexpected person into the patient exam room.
Introduce those who are following the physician and let the patient know who they are, and why they are there.
Seek patient permission before allowing a student or intern to do a procedure on a patient.
Respect the patients right to decline having someone else in the room during their exam or do a procedure on them.
Train the people following the physician in patient privacy guidelines.
Limit the number people allowed to follow the physician at any one time.

Always remember to put yourself in the patients position. If you were in the same situation would you want to be exposed to crowd? Being naked in a crowd can be a humbling experience for anyone.

Never Let Your Patients Hear You Complain

Changing Physicians

Communicating with Patients as an Introvert

Keeping Your Patients Well Informed

Seek Patient Permission

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