By The job of a nurse is one of a kind. No one else in health care has to help their patients in as many different ways as a nurse does.
This includes not only physical care but also emotional support, work on mental health, meeting social needs, and in some cases, even spiritual care. This is why nurses are so important to patient care: they have to be everything to everyone, and they also have to be focused and right. This is definitely not an easy thing to do, which is why not everyone can be a nurse.Â
If you are a nurse or want to become one, the patient has to be one of your top priorities. After all, these people are hurt and sick, and they are counting on you to help them as much as possible.
What Is The Best Way For A Nurse To Help Their Patients?Â
There are some things that nurses should know, no matter what level they are at or what kind of nursing they do. Read on to learn what these things are so you can give the best care to your patients.
1. Advance Your Education
Education has to be one of the best ways for nurses to help their patients. If you can improve and advance your education by taking a distance accelerated BSN online, studying at home with videos and books, or paying more attention to what’s going on around you, you will have all the knowledge you need to be a great nurse and take great care of every patient you need to.Â
You will also be able to give your patients the most up-to-date information and talk to other doctors about possible treatment plans if you keep learning. Overall, the more you know, the better you can help your patients, both because you know more about how to help them and because you have more confidence in your own skills because you know you’re always learning more.
2. Individual Patient Care
You might think that every nurse already gives each individual patient care since that is their job. Even though this would be a great thing to happen, it doesn’t always happen this way. So, if you want to be a great nurse and give your patients the best care possible, you need to think of them as people, not as their illnesses or injuries.
It’s easy to forget that each patient is an individual with their own thoughts and feelings. It’s easy to forget this because nurses are so busy. Depending on the area of nursing they work in, they might have dozens of patients to care for during each shift.
So, it makes sense that it will be easier to concentrate on the ailment you are trying to treat or the needs of the patients than on each patient as a unique person. However, if you can think about each person as an individual, it will make a huge difference and help you give more personalized care.Â
Getting to know their names is the initial big step, but if you can talk to each patient, even for a short time, you can learn little things about them that you can use later to show that you listened. Why does this matter? When a patient feels heard, they can often heal better because they can relax and know they are in good hands.
3. Empower Towards Self-Care
Depending on how busy things are, a nurse’s job might be done when they say goodbye to a patient and that patient heads home. However, just because a patient leaves the hospital or clinic doesn’t mean they are fully well. One of the best things nurses can do for their patients is to teach them how to take care of themselves.
The more each patient can do to remain fit and healthy after leaving the hospital, the less likely it is that their condition will come back or that it will take longer than it should get better. Not only that, but leading a healthy life is important even if you haven’t been in the hospital, so this can be a good habit for the patient to have for the rest of their lives.Â
As a nurse, you can teach your patient how to take care of themselves. You can teach them how to eat well, work out, get enough sleep, drink enough water, and maybe even talk to a mental health professional if things are hard.
When a nurse gives a patient full care, which includes helping them understand what they can do for themselves and what changes they can make in their lives, they are helping those patients in the best way possible.Â
4. Keep Things Simple
Nurses, along with the other healthcare staff, have their own language. A nurse may use terms like cerebral embolism, ganglion, myocardial infarction, and dorsiflexion every day, but a patient probably doesn’t. These words should not be used when a patient is being taught.
Keeping things very simple. That also means you are not waiting until the patient is sent home to teach them. Patient education should start with the first assessment and go on until the patient is sent home. Giving your patient information in small bites also helps them remember more. During stressful times, it can be hard to remember things, but it is especially important for a patient to do so.Â
5. Show Compassion
Being compassionate is also a very crucial component of being a nurse and making sure that the people you care for get the best care possible. Compassion means that you not only understand what the other person is going through or empathize with them but also want to do something to alleviate their pain. You want to help improve their lives.Â
If you can be as caring as possible, the patient will feel much better, and you’ll be doing something to help, so they’ll get the best care you can give as a nurse.
Wrapping It UpÂ
It’s not always easy to be kind. Or, to put it another way, it’s easy to be kind, but it’s much harder to know how to help and not just want to help.
Because of this, it’s up to nurses to show this kind of care. Friends and family of the patient may care about them and want to help as much as they can, but they won’t be able to do so because they don’t know enough or have the right training.
So, nurses are very important for caring for patients with compassion.
Additionals:
What is your reaction?
