Making Your Patients More C
comfortable
ommunication is the keystone to a trusting doctor-patient relationship and effective healthcare. However, human communication is no easy thing. What we often feel should be a simple and straight-forward exchange can be complicated and bogged down by mood, tone, perspective, background, strong emotions, and a hundred other factors at any given time. As a healthcare provider, it could be argued that you are at a disadvantage before you even walk into an exam room. Patients aren’t often at their best when coming in for a doctor’s visit, and are likely to be stressed, confused, scared, sick, in pain, irritated, and impatient. As patients grow older, their difficulties and frustrations often increase, and communication can become more and more challenging. There are a few strategies you can employ in your interactions with elderly patients that will help them feel more comfortable, enable you to obtain the information you need, and encourage compliance with instructions and treatments.
1. Start with a quality interaction Patients need to feel seen and heard, and want to feel that their time with you was well-spent. While you may still need to juggle the demands of record-keeping during your patient conversations, make an effort to show them that this is their time, and that you are committed to 10
ARIZONA PHYSICIAN | Spring 2020
making their visit meaningful and helpful. First impressions matter. The more quality attention you can give your patients at the start of the conversation the better they will feel about their visit. Minimize as many distractions as possible and sit facing your patient. Patients struggling with loss of hearing may rely on reading your lips to fully understand what you are saying. Strong eye contact remains one of the most powerful forms of nonverbal communication, and plays a vital role in communicating engagement, building trust, and encouraging honesty.
2. Slower, shorter, louder You’ll want to communicate information, answers, and instructions as clearly as possible. It may help to use shorter words and sentences, so that you can zero in on the most important elements. Another helpful practice may be to practice speaking just a little bit slower, and a little bit louder, to make it easier for older patients to hear and understand. However, this advice comes with a caution: the line between “speaking louder” and “patronizing” is astonishingly thin. Always speak to your patients as if they are intelligent adults, no matter the other adjustments needed.
