3 Ways to Get the Most Out of Patient Interviews

3 Ways to Get the Most Out of Patient Interviews

During a patient interview, making the best possible use of your time and establishing rapport are key. If your patient doesn’t feel heard, they will shut down and your opportunity to gain valuable information can be lost. Managing your time properly and exercising good communication skills will help you to gather the clues you need to learn about a patient’s symptoms, understand how they’re responding to medication and treatment, and identify potential problems before they become emergencies. Here are three tips for conducting a productive patient interview.

1. Update History Before the Appointment

If at all possible, have someone from your office contact your patient before their appointment. Ask patients to bring in a list of any concerns or complaints to the interview, and make sure your office personnel takes down any new issues. Have this visible to serve as a trigger for your conversation with your patient.

Studying up on patient’s new concerns will allow you to start a trail of data. Illnesses leave clues, but if you don’t have time to hear the story, you will struggle to find the answer and may wind up referring the patient to a specialist for a visit they didn’t need.

This gathering of history is a good time to collect some basic data as well. Encourage the staff to make the call to do their best to find out the basics. You need to know the

  • dietary habits
  • activity level
  • risky behaviors

of your patients, and this information can be hard to share face to face. A phone interview before your appointment may make your patient a bit bolder.

2. Don’t Disrupt the Interview by Stopping to Take Notes

During your face to face conversation with your patient, don’t take notes. Keep your patient at a comfortable eye-level throughout the interview and communicate directly. Let them tell their story, record the conversation, and use a medical transcriptionist to provide you with a written narrative of the entire conversation.

By reviewing the whole story that your patient shares with you, you can start to determine the source of their concern. A properly transcribed patient interview will give you the chance to take notes; remember to note things like the patient dropping eye contact, any faltering, or signs of confusion.

Using a transcriber gives you time to enter the patient’s symptoms into your mental computer. Not only do you hear their responses, but you also get to read them back as well. With this format, you can feed your problem-solving, diagnostic brain from both the visual and audio side, constructing a narrative you can study from all angles.

3. Use Your Follow-up Conversation to Build Rapport

When you’ve reviewed the nurse-patient communication fully from multiple directions, schedule a follow-up conversation to discuss some of the points that came up during your interview. Even if you’re only meeting over the phone, the follow-up can

  • Increase a patient’s willingness to provide you with more detailed information
  • Increase their trust in you
  • Encourage them to share more in subsequent conversations

One of the few constants among people of all age groups is that those who don’t feel heard stop talking. Worse, they may stop listening before they stop talking. If you’re frustrated with patients who don’t take sound medical advice, be aware that you may be dealing with a patient who’s felt left out of their own healthcare for years.

Is that your fault? Probably not, but it is now your problem. Poor communication will result if you’re only allowed 15 minutes to discuss something that’s hurt for 30 years.

The lack of confidence in the scientific community stems from a lack of understanding of the scientific method. Observing, asking, and data gathering is what the patient interview is for. Your interview will produce more and better quality data when a patient doesn’t feel rushed and isn’t worried that they’re wasting your time if they need to talk longer. The more time you can make for the interview, the greater your chances of uncovering valuable information and providing your patients with the care they deserve.

5 Tips to Help You Stand Out in Nursing School

5 Tips to Help You Stand Out in Nursing School

Getting through nursing school is no easy task. Long days spent in the classroom combined with hours spent doing clinical work can take a toll on your body and mind. However, there are a number of proven tips that you can employ in order to survive the rigors of this academic program. Here are five proven ways that you can stand out as a nursing student.

1. Prepare and Plan

Before you start your nursing school journey, prepare yourself for what lies ahead. Your success will largely depend on how organized you are.

Be sure to have everything that you need on hand prior to the first day of class. This comprehensive list of essentials includes a stethoscope, the required textbooks, a day planner, and any classroom materials.

As soon as you receive your class and clinical schedule, make a plan about how you are going to tackle all of these duties. You will go into the new school year with confidence if you have a plan in place, thus increasing your chances of success.

2. Dress the Part

If you want to be a nurse, you need to look like a nurse. Shopping for the appropriate scrubs prior to school starting will ensure that you appear professional and ready to get started.

In addition to finding a pair of comfortable shoes for all of those hours in a hospital setting, you also need to buy the appropriate clothing. Koi scrubs are a great choice when looking for something that will wick away moisture and keep you comfortable in any working condition.

Not only will dressing the part help you to project a more professional image to your instructors and colleagues, but the right uniform will also make you feel more confident. This boost in self-confidence can go a long way in helping you to feel more empowered to do your best.

3. Ask Questions

If you want to set yourself apart from the crowd, you should not be afraid to ask questions. Now is not the time to be quiet and keep your thoughts and questions to yourself.

Asking relevant questions is a great way to show your instructors and fellow students that you care about the work that you are doing. This is important both in the classroom and in the clinical setting. If you are unsure of anything, this is the time to get clarity.

4. Ask for Help

Nursing school is a challenging gauntlet that can leave even the strongest students feeling overwhelmed or unsure of themselves. You should not feel ashamed to ask for help should you need it.

Depending on your school, you may even be offered complimentary tutoring help. Take advantage of all of the resources available to you if you want to boost your chances of success.

One of the most challenging parts of going through nursing school comes at the end of the journey with the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). You do not want to take any of these certification or licensing exams lightly. Invest in a test prep book or tutor to help you pass with flying colors.

5. Go Above and Beyond…

Meeting the bare minimum standard is not enough for a demanding career such as nursing. You will be in a better position to get a job after graduation if you go above and beyond while still in nursing school.

Demonstrating an eagerness to make the most out of this learning experience will increase the odds that you land the job that you want after graduation. To help you to perform better on your exams, look at materials from supplemental study guides and other items that will give you a competitive advantage. All of these steps will show that you are ready to do more than just pass.

If you employ these five tips, you should be able to tackle all of the demands of your nursing program and meet your goals both in school and after graduation when you are looking for that perfect job.

New to Nursing? Here are 8 Things You Need to Know

New to Nursing? Here are 8 Things You Need to Know

Many people go into nursing because it offers a unique opportunity to care for others and make a profound difference in peoples’ lives. However, you need to balance these lofty aims with an awareness of the day-to-day realities of the profession. You should certainly hold on to your ideals—they make the daily grind worthwhile!—but make sure you enter your career with your eyes open.

If you are a new nurse just starting out, here are 8 things that many veteran nurses wish they had known at the beginning of their careers.

1. There is a Lot of Fine Print

While your schedule on paper may seem doable, with a few 12 hour-long shifts or so, this quickly expands when your commute time, changeover duties, and key patient information exchange after and before every workday are factored in. Additionally, you may not have as much time off as you expect. Your promised off days will very likely begin with early morning calls requesting you to come in when the hospital is understaffed.

Weekends and holidays are not guaranteed to be off and loved ones may not be able to see you. Furthermore, the term “nursing” is a nebulous one that goes beyond simply the medical care you had been trained to provide. A nurse can be anything from a counselor and advocate to an engineer and deliverer. Thus taking a more holistic approach to the profession is the best approach.

2. Memory Matters, and Mistakes are Inevitable

With all the patients you will come into contact with, you will have to deal with large quantities of information. Apart from the quantity, the quality also matters, as this information is not only strongly protected by medical privacy laws but is essentially a matter of life and death. You will be expected to know it all and at all times. Finding a way to recall facts and keep things in order is vital in a profession where so much is at stake all the time.

At the same time, though, mistakes are inevitable. How you react to them, though, makes all the difference in the world. Learning from your mistakes and not repeating them is a more realistic goal than seeking outright perfection. Medications are something to be mindful of, as they are the easiest to confuse.

3. You Will Learn to Cope with Death

As you learn to handle mistakes, so too will you learn to deal with death. Nursing school, for all it teaches you, does not prepare you for coping with death. Each death is as unique as the patient and does not get easier , as each one hits hard in a different way. Part of the way you will learn to cope is by way of a dark sense of humor.

4. You Will be on the Phone a Lot

In the midst of dealing with large quantities of patients and pressure, you will be spending very large amounts of tedious periods of time on the phone, calling, answering, and mediating among staff, departments, and companies.

5. Your Body Takes a Beating

Long shifts involving standing, lifting, squatting, and walking are bound to take their toll on your body. For this reason, stretching properly and wearing supportive garments can help you manage these stresses.

6. Work and Life Become One

With nursing, the line between work and life becomes blurred. An example of this is that your family and friends, while seeing less of you on holidays, nonetheless become extra patients who will look to you for your expertise. Conversely, your coworkers and patients become like a second family to you, weathering the storms of your career with you as one.

In addition to family, fashion bleeds into nursing, too! You need to be comfortable and there are certain fashion scrubs for nurses out there to make wearing them all day into the night a lot easier on you.

7. You Will be Underpaid

Unfortunately, the pay is not going to match the work that has to be done to fulfill the basic duties. However, there are plenty of chances to take up overtime and more shifts, through which you can earn more so long as you are willing to do the additional work.

8. Nourishment Matters

Breakfast is something too many people skip as they begin their workdays, but given how few chances there are to eat, it is imperative to have that first meal in order to have the energy to keep up with the demands. Stocking up on nutrition bars and beverages can help. Nursing is not an easy profession to get into and succeed in, and it is not for everyone. Make yourself aware of the realities of the job and learn to take them in stride. If you love the job, then you can surely persevere.