The entire setup of any healthcare facility revolves around patients. So, if the patient’s needs and demands aren’t being fulfilled, the facility loses the purpose behind its existence and becomes nothing more than a capitalistic endeavor.
With the increasing public health awareness, a demand for better care, and the cut-throat industry competition – hospitals and clinical facilities must get their priorities straight and focus on providing better patient care. This can be done through quality staff training, eliminating paperwork, improving communication, and outsourcing certain tasks, such as using a professional Medical answering service for example, to free up staff to spend their time on what really matters – face-to-face patient care.
Nurses and positive patient care experience
As nurses lie at the center of any caregiving activity, their interaction with the patient essentially defines the patient care experience. As a nurse, providing a positive care experience involves more than just caring for your patient’s health.
Encouraging effective communication, understanding their physical, emotional, and sometimes even spiritual needs, and prioritizing their comfort in every way is the essence of a positive care experience.
In contrast, discharging them in a self-defeating way is the last thing you want as the patient care quality directly affects patient satisfaction.
How can nurses deliver a high-quality care experience?
As the primary caregiver of a patient, you must possess competent clinical expertise and extraordinary interpersonal skills to deliver the best possible patient care.
Advancing your education is the most straightforward path that equips you with all you need to provide high-quality care.
Furthermore, pursuing an advanced degree can help you keep up with the latest research and treatment strategies in an ever-changing industry; you can find many AGPCNP online programs that provide complete flexibility with little to no conflict against work commitments.
But that’s not all; interpersonal communication is equally essential as it makes up a big part of a positive care experience. If you run or work in an agency that provides home care, you might want to look into a program like ShiftCare. This is a service helping nursing staff keep track of not only their patients and keep notes on their personal care needs, but also the nurses’ scheduling information all in one place, making their work life that much easier. If this sounds like something you are interested in, you could visit this website to learn more.
Today, we have compiled a list of five ways you can deliver the best possible patient care experience. Continue reading to learn more.
Adopt effective communication strategies
Effective communication between patients and care providers is essential to any positive care experience. And as nurses are at the forefront of any patient interaction, they must adopt communication strategies that enable friendly communication with little to no ambiguity.
Communication is a critical factor that significantly influences patient safety and satisfaction. Many times, the diagnosis and treatment-related details that nurses share with patients are riddled with complex terminologies that many patients are unfamiliar with.
A competent nurse can effectively assess the patient’s level of comprehension and convey critical information in simple terms.
Nurses serve as the go-between for patients and physicians, ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding the most critical aspects of a patient’s health. You need to listen to their complaints to ensure their comfort.
Listening to what the patient feels or finds uncomfortable is vital to delivering high-quality care. Furthermore, a patient’s comfort level and satisfaction will likely increase if nurses can communicate effectively with them.
Empathize with the patient’s experience
Empathy for the patient is understanding and engaging with the patient’s sentiments. Many studies have shown that empathy is a significant indicator of care quality and patient satisfaction.
A positive care experience heavily revolves around empathy. As a nurse, you need to treat patients via an individual-centric approach that recognizes their unique attributes as a person rather than treating them all indistinctly.
Similarly, actively listening to their concerns and interacting verbally or non-verbally implies interpersonal sensitivity, which can positively affect your patient’s care experience.
On the other hand, you should also establish a high level of advocacy for a patient’s well-being to alleviate suffering and promote health.
Furthermore, compassionate nurses have a more significant impact on patient compliance with in-home care recommendations.
According to research, empathy has been demonstrated to reduce stress and despair in cancer patients and pregnant women who are about to go into delivery.
Collaborative care boosts positive patient experiences
Numerous studies have shown that a patient’s sense of collaboration and effective care coordination are essential indicators of a pleasant patient experience.
According to a Press Ganey study, the perceptions of collaborative efforts among healthcare providers are critical for high patient satisfaction.
The research reported that strong collaboration and coordination among nursing staff created the sense that patients were exceptionally well-cared for.
To ensure that patients feel safe and secure, nursing staff must work together to provide a quality patient experience.
Prioritizing patient safety and comfort while delivering optimal treatment care will help patients have positive experiences during their stay at the hospital, which in turn should lead to higher patient satisfaction levels.
Be flexible
Demonstrating flexibility in fulfilling patient needs can help you deliver high-quality care. Going above and beyond your work responsibilities to ensure patient comfort is key to providing positive care.
A patient suffering from severe pain or discomfort or a patient in desperate need of reparative sleep values the flexibility of your care over everything else.
Apart from that, the comfort of the patient’s family also plays into patient satisfaction. They can help ease patients’ worries and keep them calm throughout your shift, especially if the patient is unfamiliar with the hospital environment.
Also, don’t forget that family members are going through a tough time, and maintaining a kind and friendly attitude toward them can also add to the patient care experience.
Don’t forget to care for yourself
Nursing is a demanding profession; nurses get so lost in prioritizing and caring for their patients that they forget to care for themselves.
Undoubtedly, as a nurse, your patient is your priority. But that doesn’t mean overlooking your well-being – if not the first; then you should come as a close second on the list of your priorities.
Helping professionals and caregivers frequently suffer from “compassion fatigue,” a syndrome that occurs when you feel physically and emotionally drained.
Withdrawal, mood swings, and irritation are potential consequences of compassion fatigue. It can be a severe problem for nurses, who must demonstrate a significant level of compassion daily.
Working as a nurse can be extremely taxing. The emotional and physical toll of providing care to others may be exhausting.
Taking a well-deserved time off, spending some leisure time, and sharing your stress with someone you trust can help avoid burnout.
Final thoughts
High-quality patient care begins with empowering nurses. Healthcare facilities can boost patient satisfaction by encouraging their nursing staff to pursue advanced education and implementing training workshops that equip nurses with effective communication and collaboration strategies.
Furthermore, adequate staffing levels ensure sufficient nurses care for patients’ needs. Plus, this also ensures that no nursing staff feels burnt out. These seem like small efforts, yet they significantly impact patients’ quality of care.
