Module 4 Forum:
Discuss the following statement “Being sensitive to the needs of patients is a prerequisite for establishing good communication.” Include in your answer the various influences that\ determine a patient’s behavior as well as effective ways for the health care professional to determine the patient’s individual needs.
Solution
Foundations of Patient Care
The importance of the patient’s needs should always be the priority of all health care service providers. Over the decades, several healthcare professionals (HCPs) and institutions have thrived to understand different possibilities of providing the best healthcare experience to the patient. The technological aspects of the clinical care structure and different patient education delivery modules are constantly evolving to provide a high-end patient-centered quality care experience. However, it is not sufficient as it is a complete ‘human’ experience, and a good holistic patient care experience cannot be provided without the sincere and honest involvement of the HCPs and their right approach toward patient care. It is an utmost priority for healthcare professionals to be very sensitive and proactive in understanding the patient’s concerns.
The patient and the patient’s families who come from different ethnicity, race, or religion before arriving in a healthcare service unit are physically and mentally stressed, have a lot of unanswered questions, are confused and clueless about the process, and might also have some insecurities on how they will be treated in such a mostly unfamiliar situation. Their socio-economic backgrounds, cultural beliefs, and their life experiences also add some prejudices making them apprehensive, defensive, and doubtful. Along with that if we take into consideration the patient’s actual health condition and clinical problems associated with it, it is imaginable how severely stressful a patient will be in such conditions. Eventually addressing the crucial importance of the sensitivity of patient care and health care professionals (Witteman et al. 2018, p.560).
Professional and dedicated Health care professionals generally understand this need to engage the patients in warm caring interview sessions along with their families. They ought to be a good listener and have an empathetic approach to understanding the patient cues from every possible point of view (psychological, physiological, biological, clinical, cultural, socio-economical, and life experiences), henceforth we can conclude that effective patient-oriented communication skills are very important (Hopper, 2020, p. 24).
The clarity and truthful awareness of the clinical and process-oriented education provided by the HCPs bring trust and improve the interpersonal relationships between the HCP and the patient party, helping in understanding the need of the patient properly. Eventually, by gaining confidence the patient starts the journey of self-care by becoming a part of it, working hand in hand with the HCP without any kind of inhibitions.
References
Hopper, E. (2020). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Explained. ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 24..
Witteman, H. O., Dansokho, S. C., Colquhoun, H., Fagerlin, A., Giguere, A. M., Glouberman, S., … & Volk, R. J. (2018). Twelve lessons learned for effective research partnerships between patients, caregivers, clinicians, academic researchers, and other stakeholders. Journal of general internal medicine, 33(4), 558-562.
