As a healthcare professional, you're always looking out for your patients and doing what's best for them. Sadly, the kindness isn't always reciprocated as patients/carers can often turn their frustrations on you. You know it's essential to stay professional, but it's pretty hard when someone is hurling abuse at you and making it very difficult to do your job, right?
It's helpful to know why patients or their carers might become 'challenging' in the first place:
They are feeling unwell or experiencing pain
Misuse of alcohol or substance abuse
They're experiencing anxiety, fear or distress
They have unrealistic expectations of healthcare
They feel guilty for not bringing the patient to hospital sooner
Communication or language barriers
They had a poor experience with a previous healthcare issue
You should also understand what behaviour a challenging patient/carer might display:
Verbal threats or abuse
Making demands or trying to control the situation
Unwillingness to cooperate or listen
Physical violence towards people or their surroundings
Before attempting to handle a situation with a challenging patient, you should:
Check to see if the patient's behaviour is brought on by a medical condition. If so, you should treat them as much as possible without putting yourself or anyone else at risk.
Consider if the patient's experience with their doctor has been affected by waiting time pressures. Communication between doctor and patient can play a large role in their mood/patience, and when under a lot of pressure, a doctor's communication style may differ.
Find out if a lack of resources in the department (staff/beds/seats) has led to the patient's deteriorating mood.
You must assess any high-risk situations
If you're unsure how a challenging patient or carer may react to bad news or a long waiting time, look around and assess who could be vulnerable should there be violence.This includes other people in waiting areas, reception staff and colleagues.
If a patient/carer becomes violent, you should:
Stay calm - listen carefully to what the violent person says
Be reassuring - show some acknowledgement of what's troubling them
Allow them to explain - understanding their anger might help to resolve the problem
Keep eye contact - but do not hold it for too long
Maintain your distance - however, try to avoid corners so the person doesn't feel trapped
Ensure they don't have a weapon - if they do, ask them to set it down. Do not ask them to hand it to you.
Press the panic button if available - if not, call for some help
Leave the room - once able, call the security team or police immediately
Move the patient away from public view - but only if safe to do so
How can you help to prevent violentsituations?
If you're aware that patients are becoming frustrated and consequentially violent because of problems within the hospital (systems/policies/lack of resources etc.), you should flag this to the trust.
Request training for Conflict Resolution to help you deal with abusive or violent situations.
Share this article with your colleagues so they can better protect themselves, fellow staff and patients.
Provide them with an opportunity to explain what has angered them. Understanding the source of their frustration may help you find a solution. Maintain eye contact, but not prolonged. Keep an adequate distance from the patient, but keep away from corners.
Report any patient verbal abuse or harassment to nursing administration and risk management. Participate in educational and training seminars that focus on unacceptable patient conduct and how to immediately deal with it.
Let the customer know in no uncertain terms that you are here to help them, but you will need to end the interaction if their behaviour continues. If that doesn't help, your team can and should ask an abusive customer to leave or end an interaction immediately.
Remain calm and clear and keep repeating that the behaviour is unacceptable. Insist that you are trying to help, but cannot do so until they calm down. For example, immediately giving the aggressor what they have asked for just to end the situation, or the GP agreeing to see the patient just “to keep them quiet”.
Avoid reacting defensively and taking things personally; instead, try to look for the feelings that are behind the behaviour. Reinforce to other staff the person's right to express angry feelings. Avoid verbal confrontations. Reassure the person that you are there to help.
Educate staff, patients, and the community about the institution's expectations for behavior. Promote a safe and respectful working environment and formally set clear expectations for how disrespectful, derogatory, or prejudiced behavior by patients will be managed.
When working with an agitated patient, there are 4 main objectives: (1) ensure the safety of the patient, staff, and others in the area; (2) help the patient manage his emotions and distress and maintain or regain control of his behavior; (3) avoid the use of restraint when at all possible; and (4) avoid coercive ...
Yes. Healthcare workers have rights like patients have rights.. If a patient is physically or verbally abusive, a healthcare worker has the right to refuse care to that patient.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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