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drawing of booksModule 2 – Unit 1:  Reading & Vocabulary

Tips on Establishing A Healthy Relationship with Patients

Think About It   Imagine you are working with a newly hired nursing assistant who is very cold and rude to patients. You know that the patients feel very uncomfortable with him or her. What would you do?

Read the article below and answer the questions that follow.

A Helping Relationship with Patients

A health professional and patient need to establish a helping relationship primarily for the benefit of the patient. A successful helping relationship with a patient is different from a friendship. It is a professional relationship based on mutual trust and responsibility that aims at helping the patient achieve and maintain optimal health. Health professionals at every level have a type of partnership with patients and their families. Everyone brings his or her own knowledge, skills, attitudes, feelings, and beliefs to this partnership. The health professional is responsible for encouraging an interaction of ideas and values between themselves and the patients they serve.

Here are several tips on ways to establish this helping relationship with all your patients:

DO:

  1. Be prepared mentally, emotionally, and physically to assist your patients in resolving their health care problems.
  2. Be punctual and polite in communicating with patients.
  3. Be a good listener.
  4. Put the patient’s needs and concerns first.
  5. Praise and encourage patients to take better care of themselves.
  6. Be patient and understanding about patients’ reactions to their particular health situations.
  7. Make sure patients feel comfortable and safe in your care.

DON’T:

  1. Don’t patronize patients.
  2. Don’t act impatient or in a hurry when talking to patients.
  3. Don’t preach to patients to make them change their habits or beliefs.
  4. Don’t make quick judgments about patients (for example, “He’s just lazy” or “She’s so uncooperative”), but try to understand them.
  5. Don’t use medical jargon that patients don’t understand.
  6. Don’t pretend to have knowledge that you do not have.
  7. Don’t show any prejudice against the patient’s race, religion, or culture.

Adapted from:  Riley, J. 2004. Communication in Nursing. St. Louis: Mosby. pp 22-27.

Questions About Reading

  • Do you agree with the advice given in the two lists? Cross out any tips that you do not agree with.
  • Do you think most health professionals follow the advice given? Can you think of an example from your experience?
  • Can you add a few more tips to the DO list and the DON’T list?

DO’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

DON’Ts

Vocabulary Practice

Complete the sentences using the words in the box. Use each word only once.

concerns

judgment

mutual

optimal

patronize

praise

preach

prejudiced

punctual

reactions
  • The new dental assistant was happy when her supervisor took time to ___________________ her for doing a good job.
  • When my patients aren’t ____________________ for their appointments, they often have to wait for the next available time.
  • This is a/an ____________________ time to be trained as a nurse because so many hospitals and health centers need more RNs, LVNs, and CNAs.
  • I don’t trust his ____________________ of people because he never trusts anyone new that he meets.
  • It’s normal for older patients to have more ____________________ or worries about their health than younger patients.
  • My mother will often ____________________ to me about how I need to stop smoking and eat healthier food.
  • Health professionals need to be ready for different ____________________ from their patients when they tell them difficult news.
  • The two new resident doctors are both involved in alternative medicine and often talk about this ____________________ interest when they are together.
  • I feel frustrated when my colleague talks to me as if I have little experience or knowledge and seems to ____________________ me.
  • When he started his new job and no one was very friendly, he thought they felt ____________________ against the different clothes he wore.