Module 4 Posting

Responding to the question "is there any health care provider role that does not involve teaching in some manner?" may I just say "Surgeon"?!! Ok, so I'm just joking, or am I? In any event, we as health care providers should all be teaching all the time because, obviously, we need to obtain informed consent from the patient or his/her representative before we do anything at all or it's (technically) a battery. We should be explaining everything we do, and the reasons we're doing it, before, during, and after we do it. While that might sound onerous on its face, I've actually found that it's a great tool for filling in the conversational gaps that might otherwise become awkward during patient care, for staying focused, and for involving the patient and his/her family members in the care delivery process. For example, when I'm giving ANYTHING intraveneously, I show it to the patient, tell them what I'm giving them and why, wait to see if they have any questions at all before I proceed, and make sure that whatever family is in the room also has the opportunity to look at the medication and ask questions. Why do I do this? Because during my first year on the floor I noticed that whenever I made a mistake, it was because I had failed to listen to what my patient and/or a family member was saying. I mean . . . every . . . single . . . time. I am lucky that I didn't make any big mistakes, and I'm also lucky that I learned from those experiences to be very inclusive in my care delivery style. Now, instead of using my left brain to keep up a pitter-patter/chitter-chatter that smoothes the social airways while the right side of my brain keeps an eye on whatever the heck business I'm actually trying to conduct, I focus the activities of both hemispheres on the single task of getting all of us in the room--patient, family, health care providers--on the same page to provide high quality patient care. Honestly, I don't care what Aunt Martha did last year at the family reunion, and I'm pretty sure the patient and his/her family don't care that I know, or even less my opinion about it . . . but what we all share as a mutual interest is what I'm doing to promote my patient's health and safety and how it affects the big picture Plan Of Care--so I keep the focus there and I think it's a pretty good way to incorporate teaching into patient care on a routine basis.

P.S. To all my patients who actually occupy two places in my heart (patient and FRIEND) please know that I'm not talking here about our cherished friendships, but what I do to make sure I'm delivering SAFE patient care!!