Nursing profession is quite challenging specially when it comes to maintaining Nurse-Patient relationships. Besides Clinical expertise, nurses should excel in providing quality care, and supporting patient, and their family in decision making.
Whether you are a front-line or register nurse, the way you engage and interact with health clients hugely impacts nurse-patient relationship. Nurses must adopt a generous materialistic attitude in order to build a strong connection with patients.
In this guide, we’ll be discussing how nurses can nurture patient’s trust, effects of positive nurse-patient relationship, and why it is important?
How Nurses must Nuture Patients to Earn their Trust?
Here at Healthcare Pros, All a patient needs is infinite care, cooperation, friendly communication, and encouraging environment to deal with their illness. I hope you are getting my point. Some part of patient’s recovery also depends on a nurse’s behaiviour, or attitude. Help your patients to heal faster. They may forget your name, but they’ll never forget the genuine care and concern they received from you.
Following the right approach, you can definitely earn their trust and establish a long-term nurse patient relationship. Below are some points that you can keep in mind for a better focus on your parents.
1. Practice Active Listening
To create mutual understanding with the patient, nurse should train themselves to be a good listener. I am pointing not only at the verbal communication, but also the unsaid things that they hesitate to express. Being a nurse, you need to be more respectful, attentive, patient, and open-minded. So, your patients can communicate without the fear of judgement, and criticism.
Be polite to them when they ask questions or seek clarification about the medical procedure, or any other query. To earn their trust, its important for them to be emotionally attached with you.
2. Follow the Patient-Centered Approach
According to this approach, patient must be your priority. Understand their preference, requirements, and healthcare goals to nurture a healthy nurse-patient relationship. Ensure to provide care as per patients needs, beleifs, and values. Whether its about choosing treatment plan or daily care routine, don’t forget to make them a part of your decision.
Value their feedback and if required work on the identified areas to improve the quality of care. Patient centric approach will help you advancing in your nursing career.
3. Treat your Patient with Respect & Dignity
There are certain medical procedure, and conversations that makes patients embarrased. With a proper staff training, such issues can be resolved. Nurse leaders must take the initiatives to treat patients without damaging their modesty, and dignity. Open-communicate with patients, and assure that their privacy is respected.
4. Be Modest with Patient’s Family
It’s not just the patient who suffers in sickness, the family or loved ones also suffers with them. So, its important for the nurses to value their family’s emotion, and communicate with them in a humble way. Patient’s loved ones are usually concerned about the ongoing medical process or seeks clarification. Nurses can appreciate, and encourage them be a part of treatment or healthcare planning. Such small acts of caring makes huge impact on patient, and their family as well.
Effects & Benefits of Positive Nurse-Patient Relationship:
For nurses, its important to cultivate positive nurse-patient relationship for better health outcomes, and improve the quality of healthcare experience. The prime task of the nurses is the well being of patients. Its important to not let them feel disrespected, or an isolated part of the society. Moreover, it benefits both the nurses and patients with great satisfaction, and long-lasting healthcare relationship.
1. Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Nuturing and cherishing patients not only reduces stress and anxiety in patients but also gives inner satisfaction to nurses. It won’t be wrong to say that no other human relation is more intimate than a nurse-patient. Nurses have the opportunity to provide comfort, compassion, and care without any prescription.
2. Increased Trust and Confidence
Building a healthy relationship with patients, and their family helps gaining their trust. They start believing in you, thoroughly follows the adviced treatment plans which promotes good health, and fast recovery.
3. Improves Patient Education
Nurses have to play multiple roles including patients’ healthcare expert, advocate to education. An educated nurse can make patients aware about the medical terms, and different treatment plans for their betterment. It requires great efforts and support to empower patients.
4. Reduces the Hospital Stay
One of the major impact of a strong nurse-patient relationship is the reduced treatment plan, and hospital stays. Nurses must adopt the patient-centric approach and provide holistic care which not only make patients feel more comfortable but also more receptive to treatment.
5. Increased Patient Engagement
Nurses can encourage their patients to be more receptive towards the treatment with their moral support and positive attitude. A positive nurse-patient relationship increases the patient’s engagement in the treatment. Support the patients to take the ownership of their health.
Why maintaining Positive Nurse-Patient relationship is important?
Nurses have to consistently work for patients’ well being, and improving their overall healthcare experience. Even RNs who hardly deals with patients for few minutes also have to build healthy relationship with patients.
Lets take an example of a pediatrician nurse who have to deal with same kids for years. To make the treatment process smoother, and create long-lasting nurse-patient relationship, they have to incorporate therapeutic plays to alleviate their anxiety and fear.
Same is the situation for patients with heart problem or chronical diseases. So, what I am trying to do is to shift your focus on fostering positive nurse-patient relationship irrespective of the healthcare setting, and your work position.
Moreover, it benefits both the parties. When a patient feels that someone honestly cares for them, they can give you better follow ups.
Bottom Line
According to a publication of National Institutes of Health, caring is not the only key for the positive nurse-patient relationships. Its important to form a mutual bond to understand a patients’ needs, emotions and untold conversations. Nurses has the key to put patients in the best condition, it can be their greater strength or fatal flaw. The duration of hospital stay also depends on the kind of nurse-patient relationship.
Wrapping up, do keep in mind that a trustworthy relation can help the patients to heal physically, spiritually, and emotionally.