Patient Centered Care in an Efficiency Driven World

Objectives: To highlight the importance of patient centered care in an efficiency based health care setting. To provide practical applied examples of how to improve patient care in a busy Nuclear Medicine Department.

Methods: Using real life examples from years of experience working in an inner city Nuclear Medicine Department, we share tips on how to relax scared patients, deescalate combative ones, increase patient compliance, and improve accuracy and efficiency overall.

Results: Patient care starts with human interaction; it begins from the first greeting at reception and carries through until the final departure. A simple, genuine smile with eye contact upon greeting a patient can go a long way to calm their nerves and gain their trust. Many patients are stressed about the ‘Nuclear’ component and need reassurance. Stressed patients are less able to comprehend instructions, so it is important to provide comfort immediately and gain their trust. When they relax then they can listen to the important information we need to impart. This results in greater compliance and efficiency by preventing no shows/rescans. Working in an inner city hospital, we often care for patients in various stages of withdrawal. Often these people are disillusioned with health care in general and present to our department in a defensive, standoffish way. This can quickly escalate to violence if handled incorrectly. Using empathy and withholding judgement is crucial in preventing such escalations. It is of paramount importance not to rush the procedure, which can be difficult to do in a busy department. Sit down with them, speak face to face, lean in, maintain eye contact, ask them if they have any pain and how you can make them more comfortable. Give them time to respond. A warm blanket and a drink of juice can be a game changer! For patients with a known aggression alert, keep a bit more distance, and a clear path to an exit. Have another person stay in the room with you if possible. Aggressive patients are far less likely to act out if there is more than one person in the room with them. These little things combine to no more than a few extra minutes and make the procedure go so much smoother. The time spent is saved in preventing an incident from occurring.

Conclusions: Technologists can dramatically improve patient care and outcomes by applying a few basic psychological principles. Eye contact, smiling, and maintaining an open posture will have an immediate impact on reducing patient stress and increasing patient comprehension and compliance. This only takes a minute, yet results in greater scan quality and diagnostic accuracy, and best of all it is free!