professional courtesy in healthcare Archives

Essential Professional Dress in Healthcare

October 31, 2016 by procourtesy

Essential Professional Dress in Healthcare
While visiting a family member in the hospital recently, I noticed the unkempt attire of one of the lab people coming in to draw blood. As she knelt down to better reach my family member’s arm I noticed her scrub pants were frayed and dirty from her walking on them. Shortly after I made note of this, one of her co-workers came in the room to see how she was doing and noted the same thing. However, she said something out loud about the fact that her scrub pants were too long and should be shortened so they weren’t dragging on the ground. The person with the dirty scrubs said, “she couldn’t be bothered with that, after all they are only work pants.” My immediate thought was, if she can’t be bothered with being well groomed what else can’t she be bothered with.”

A visible mark of distinction for your organization can be what your employees wear. If they are poorly dressed or poorly groomed the impression the public gets of your organization can be a negative one. Or like me, they wonder what else isn’t be attended to.

What is the appropriate dress for the staff and physicians in offices and hospitals today?

This question is one that causes confusion in many work places, not just the medical arena. Staying current and up with the times in dress is important. The days of everyone being in white and nursing caps seems to be a thing of the past. However, problems can arise if guidelines are not specific. Dress codes left to individual interpretation can leave room for big surprises.

Uniforms of some sort give an air of professionalism and a sense of solidarity. Different departments often adopt a certain color unique to them and easily identifiable. For instance, pediatric situations may want to gear their uniforms to the children so they do not seem threatening. In certain departments, lab coats over street clothes offer protection and look professional. Scrubs are essential in many areas and reduce concern for getting clothes soiled. Shirts or coats with hospital and group logos offer another good choice.

One of the most important ideas of uniforms is to let the public know who you are, that you are at work, not at play, that you are not some stranger off the street who comes into a patient room in the middle of the night. In short, you should look like what you do and who you are.
If anyone has to question what you do or if you are working, it may be time to evaluate what you are wearing.
The need to move unencumbered in many situations presents some unique challenges. Here are some basic tips for dressing today:

Establish well defined dress codes and enforce them.
Be clean and well groomed. Shorter fingernails are more professional and more hygienic. Save nail art and dramatic nail color for social situations.
Hair kept short or up is suitable and more professional when caring for patients. Keep make-up subtle.
Fragrances should be kept to a minimum and if you smoke consider how you smell leaning over a sick patient.
Well fitting clothes are a benefit to everyone.
Clothes should be clean, well maintained, pressed and fit well. Make sure you can move easily without exposing bare skin
Invest in, and use a full length mirror before leaving the house.
Jackets and blazers add an air of authority and professionalism to men and women.
Identification badges should be visible at all times (first names only may be necessary for security reasons). Enforce identification with an introduction.
Wear clean, polished, professional shoes. No sandals. Keep work shoes separate from leisure and activity shoes.
Jewelry kept simple and to a minimum presents a more professional image.
Gum chewing is a solitary activity and should not be done in public.

Individuals in administrative positions or positions that do not require a uniform, including physicians, should use care to look professional and well groomed. It is just as important as those requiring a uniform.

It has been said, that the way we are dressed can influence the way we work and how we are perceived. When the public looks at you and views your work environment, what do they see?

Remember, what Mark Twain said…

“Clothes make the man, naked people have little or no influence in the society.”

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?

YOUR PROFESSIONAL COURTESY EVALUATION

January 24, 2014 by procourtesy

PROFESSIONAL COURTESY EVALUATION

Your Professional Courtesy Evaluation
Could your professional skills and that of your office or practice use a little tweaking? Respond to the questions below and see what jumps out at you. If most of your answers are “poor” or “fair” more work is needed.

How do you rate your professional courtesy skills?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

How do you rate your courtesy quotient?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Do you consider yourself to be a good listener?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Do you consider yourself to be a kind person to your co workers and friends?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Are you a critical person?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Do you gossip or participate in spreading gossip?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Are you a positive person?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Do you shake hands and introduce yourself to your patients?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Do you make good eye contact when speaking to co workers, patients or clients?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Do you consider yourself to be a good team player?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Do you welcome new staff members?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Do you have a “not my job” mentality at work?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

RATE YOUR OFFICE OR MEDICAL PRACTICE

How do you rate the general feel of your office or practice?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Do you think your patients and clients perceive your office to be courteous?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

Is your office welcoming to new staff members and coworkers?

Poor
Fair
Good
Great

What improvements do you feel could be made to improve the courtesy and general tone of your office or practice?

Reach Out and Touch Your Patients

December 4, 2013 by procourtesy

More and more, I hear business people say that they don’t like to touch people, shake hands or to be touched by others due to the risk of getting germs. This is a very sad commentary, as far as I am concerned. But even sadder, to me, was to hear nurses say they don’t like to touch their patients because they feel they are unclean or they don’t want to risk getting their germs.

While I appreciate not wanting to get someone’s germs that may cause an illness, I think to take the “no touch” approach with your patients is risky and very damaging to developing a mutually respectful relationship.

Nurses and physicians are certainly taught techniques on hand washing, maintaining sterile fields, dealing with patients who are infectious by using isolation procedures and various other ways to protect themselves and avoid spreading diseases to other people. So why the resistance to touch your patients?

I think it is multifaceted with some of it brought on by how high-tech medicine has become. Healthcare workers are now booting up their computers to enter data and the answers to the questions they ask their patients, often, before they even shake their hand or make eye contact with them. Physicians are now able to do every test imaginable to diagnose patients that it seems rather easy to forget about actually putting your hands on the patient. I have even had people tell me they received a complete physical without ever having taken any clothes off. This is unimaginable to me. If physicians aren’t actually looking at someone’s body, I would guess they are missing some things.

We know from studies that babies who are not touched fail to thrive and some, even die. The human touch is a big part of diagnosing and healing. Imagine the elderly patient who lives alone and has no one to hug them. Touching people and being touched is essential to life. We all seek touch from those we love. Why not make sure it is part of the equation when caring for patients.

So, here are some tips to ensure you make some sort of physical contact with your patients:

Upon entering a patient’s room in the hospital or the office exam room, extend your hand to meet them before you go to the computer to start asking questions.
If handshaking is not possible, touch the patient on the shoulder, or arm. This is a comforting gesture when consoling them or delivering bad news…something they will appreciate.

Spend a few moments talking directly to the patient. Note the color of their eyes to make sure you are making appropriate eye contact.
Introduce yourself and let them know what you do and who you are; nurse, tech, P.A., etc.
While entering data in your computer, look at the patient while asking the question and then look at the keyboard when entering their answers. Reassure the patient that you are listening to them.
Shake hands or extend another touch upon leaving the exam room. Your touch will be noted.

If you still don’t want to touch your patients, maybe you should reevaluate why you went into medicine. Compassion is important in caring for the sick.

And for those business people who don’t like to shake hands…to refuse to shake hands with someone is a huge insult. Shaking hands is the universally accepted way to touch others in almost, every country in the world. So, reach out and touch someone, then go use your antibacterial wipes

How to Deal with Scheduling Conflicts in the Medical Office

November 11, 2013 by procourtesy

How to Deal With Scheduling Conflicts in the Medical Office
There is nothing more frustrating than arriving for an appointment of any kind, only to find out that you have the wrong day. It has happened to all of us. Sometimes it is our error and sometimes it’s the error where your service is being provided. Regardless, of who is at fault, how these mix ups are managed can make or break the reputation of the business. If not done well, it can cost you a customer.

Take that same scenario, put in the medical arena and you have another potential situation that can lead to a very unhappy patient and some bad lip service for your practice. And even the loss of a patient.

Appointments in medical offices are often preceded with fasting lab work and a host of other things that need to come together before the patient can be seen. Consider post op visits that can be exhausting for the patient, visits by patients who come from a long distance, and older patients who require another family member to accompany them. Often, it isn’t just one person who is inconvenienced by a scheduling error, but several.

So, how do you manage those tricky situations, keep your schedule intact and keep your patient happy? Here are some things to consider:

First, have a discussion about the possibility of this happening and what you are going to do about it. I promise you, it will happen.
Direct staff to seek out the help of a manager or supervisor or even the physician, before turning someone away. This should not be a one person decision.
Don’t assign blame, even if you are not at fault. Listen, apologize for the inconvenience, and let the patient know you will try to accommodate them in some way. This is not the time for a power struggle.
Train front desk staff to be diplomatic. If you have someone on the front desk who can’t deal well with the public, get them off the front desk. They are often the first impression for your practice.
When scheduling appointments give the patient an appointment card filled out by you. This will lessen the chance for an error.
Call and/or email patients 24 hours prior to their appointment to confirm. Ask the patients to call you to confirm if they have not heard from your office within 24 hours.
Consider working them into your schedule in some way. Maybe the nurse practitioner or the PA could help. Offering some alternative will leave a much better impression than just turning them away.
Keep in mind that the patient is why you have a job. They are the most important part of the equation.

Another note…most offices schedule 6 months out and patients will have to call in at a certain time to schedule their annual appointments. Be sure to tell them the best month to call to get on the schedule. There is nothing more frustrating than calling in and being told that your calendar is already filled for the next three months. Remember, what seems to make sense to you, may not make sense to your patients.

Essential Professional Dress in Healthcare

Keeping Your Patients Well Informed

YOUR PROFESSIONAL COURTESY EVALUATION

Reach Out and Touch Your Patients

How to Deal with Scheduling Conflicts in the Medical Office

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