Nurses are essential to keep any medical institution running. They often go beyond the call of duty to ensure patients have a positive experience while under their care.
Furthermore, they spend a lot more time caring for the patients than the attending doctor or other medical professionals involved in the treatment.
Hence, they are an irreplaceable part of the whole patient care experience as nurses support patients throughout their stay at the hospital.
As a nurse, your patients should be your top-most priority as long as they are under your care; this includes on-time administration of meds and keeping an eye out for unexpected complications.
This also entails caring for their discomfort and tending to their basic needs while encouraging them to get better.
Nursing is undoubtedly a demanding profession, but to help make things easier for you, here are some tips to help improve patient care without feeling burned out.
Table of Contents
1. Focus on lifelong learning
Lifelong learning is a given as a medical professional. Throughout your career as a nurse, you must stay up to date with the rapid advancements in medical technology to keep up with the times.
Education is a lifelong process, especially if you are looking to advance your career as a nurse. You must keep up with the latest developments and research to provide exceptional care to your patients. There are many BSN to DNP programs online that can teach you how to improve the quality of the care you provide to your patients and keep up with the ever-changing industry.
2. Be compassionate
Sometimes nurses can treat their patients as tasks rather than people. Nurses are busy as they have to oversee several patients simultaneously, resulting in them overlooking the needs of a particular patient.
Respect and compassion are necessary if you look to provide quality care to every one of your patients. Instead of worrying about everything you need to get done, focus on the task at hand.
A considerable part of high-quality care is retaining a professional demeanor towards patients, prioritizing their needs while treating them with due respect.
Compassion is an essential ingredient for career success as a nurse. It’s a deep sense of empathy for another’s plight coupled with a desire to treat it.
Compassionate care is more than treating patients; it is about caring for their needs while respecting them as individuals.
Nurses must be able to immerse themselves in the patient experience to deliver truly compassionate care to their patients.
3. Provide exceptional care
It’s only by knowing and understanding your patient that you will be able to identify their self-care priorities and roadblocks that stand in their way.
You must accept that every patient is unique and may require a personalized treatment plan to provide exceptional care catered to their needs.
It’s a given that not every patient you see will have the same treatment objectives and preferences; having a grasp on interpersonal communication will allow you to know your patients better and, in turn, provide exceptional care to patients.
Improving your interpersonal and clinical abilities is essential for being an excellent nurse.
Understanding your patients will help you tailor a treatment plan according to their needs, enabling you to enhance their patient experience.
Individualized patient care plans show the patient that you go above and beyond to ensure their well-being, not merely fulfilling their wishes.
4. Give time to yourself
It should go without saying that your first responsibility is to the patient you care for as a nurse. This does not imply ignoring your own needs while caring for your patient.
If your health is deteriorating due to working several shifts, eating poorly, or exercising insufficiently, you cannot ensure patient safety.
If you want to stay on top of the game, it’s best to take care of your health first. Your body and mind tell you when it’s time for a break, so give yourself what you need to prevent fatigue and stress as it can lead to burnout.
5. Empower your patients
It is the responsibility of the nurses to help patients become more self-reliant in their fight against illness.
However, no matter how much you try, the patient ultimately bears responsibility for their recovery. If your patients aren’t vocal about their discomfort, you won’t notice something is wrong until it’s too late.
Hence, it’s essential to involve your patients and teach them to be vocal about their feelings.
While they are in the hospital or recovering at home or in a nursing home, teach them about the symptoms of common conditions, and ask them how they are feeling at every visit.
6. Listen to your gut feelings
Nursing is a profession that relies heavily on intuition, so pay attention to your own. Take breaks when you need them, and don’t put in extra hours if you’re even somewhat apprehensive about not giving your best.
Remember your activities influence your prospects for advancement in the future and how they fit into your overall strategy.
Knowing your limits and turning your weaknesses into advantages by being honest about your health can help advance your career by leaps and bounds
7. Be honest about your mistakes
Errors in judgment can jeopardize patient safety, and failing to notify higher-ups of these errors promptly can even have long-term consequences for your patient.
Even if the mistake isn’t life-threatening, a recurrence can risk patient safety in the future. To improve patient care, it is essential to admit your mistakes and raise awareness of any issues in the system.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to providing a positive patient experience, nurses are in charge. They do everything to ensure their patients stay protected against infections, medical mishaps, etc.
Nurses put in a lot of time and effort to ensure that they satisfy their patients in the best way and prioritize their safety over other matters.
The ultimate objective as a nurse is to deliver the finest care to your patients. Therefore, you need to be aware of the impact your actions hold.
It’s common to deal with irritable patients occasionally, who can make your job ten times harder. Take them on as a challenge and let them be a motivation for you to do better and focus on what you are supposed to do.