Of course, it is essential to understand the clinical needs of the individual patient. This includes the diagnosis, reason for visit, treatments and plan of care to name a few items.
However, as a person, the personal aspects of the the individual can be overlooked at times when a patient. This could be any type of preference. However patients tend to have categories of preferences. For example, I know that my right antecubital vein is very difficult to find in my arm whereas the one on the left tends to be easier. Knowing this as a healthcare provider can make a significant difference for the patient who sees his or herself as a person first.
Knowing this can save unnecessary sticks in the arm when knowing that the phlebotomist has a great chance of being unsuccessful the first time. Knowing this can make the person feel known as a patient. Knowing this can improve the patient experience overall.
Patient-centered care is one of the six categories of healthcare quality as defined by the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine).
Patient-centered care is defined as, “Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.”.
After all, patients are people too. Patients are people first. Patients are people who should have a voice in their care.
For patients, be sure to ask questions and share information that can help provide more individualized care.
For nurses, doctors and all healthcare professional roles, be sure to include patients in their care. They are the reason we are there and deserve to have a high quality experience.
I said these words a few weeks ago during a doctor’s visit. When it was my turn to be seen, I was brought back to a very small room and the nurse said, “I need to take your vitals”. She sat me down and started with my blood pressure. I turned my head to my left to look at what she was doing and that was when I saw it:
the yellow post-it note.
I reacted with: “Oh my, you are taking my vitals on a post-it note!?” The nurse responded, “ Well yes, I have to put them (e.g., my vital signs) in the computer.”
My mind started to race… ‘My vital patient information that can potentially be used over time, to assess my physical health status while under the care of this practice, is being written down on a post-it note.‘
I envision a day in the near future where we can support nurses with tools that allow them to spend more time with their patients and less time searching for information needed to provide safe, efficient care.
Nurses struggle to efficiently answer basic questions about their patients, often not just for themselves but also for the patient’s families and the larger health care team.
What basic questions you might ask? Below is a list of a small subset of the many questions nurses get asked each day while providing patient care:
Have my (the patient’s) labs/exams/test results come back yet?
When is the patient due for meds?
Does the patient have any allergies?
When can I (the patient) go home?
In each of the above questions, nurses need to provide an answer. How do they find that answer? Well, maybe they know from their memory, but if not, nurses have this trusted tool in their pocket: a piece of paper.
I am a nurse, an informaticist, and at times, I am also a patient. Last summer, I made an appointment for a vision exam. I was getting into my car to drive to the office when I noticed I had a voice mail. The voice mail was from the office letting someone else know that her glasses were in and she could come pick them up. I thought, ‘well that is strange, I’ll have to let them know when I get there that they called the wrong number’. What I should have done was call right back. Had I called back, I would have found out that my appointment needed to be rescheduled due to a malfunction with the equipment that day. (Instead, I drove to the office and found out in person). Although, had I called when I got the voicemail, I wouldn’t have identified the informatics challenge I saw upon arrival to the office. Read more
Promoting patient-provider relationships and patient engagement in one’s own health care delivery are two topics that often come up for current discussion. I believe both are necessary for quality patient health outcomes. However, establishing a patient-provider relationship and engaging the patient are both areas that require continuous efforts from the providers and the patients. We as health care professionals are responsible for educating patients and their families about the patient’s health condition. Yet, the patient (and family) is also responsible for ensuring an understanding of his or her health condition, as well as asking questions to clarify the disseminated information. Read more
Nurses, you know the sheet I’m referring to…you also know the feeling of panic that rushes over you when you can’t find it. “Where did I leave it? I need that to know my patients!” This sheet is a piece of paper that is the nurses’ daily lifeline to knowing their patients.
Know My Voice®
