Patient Preferences - Part II
I hope everyone had a great holiday! Now to continue on with last week's blog... I still have timeliness, healing behaviors, and cultural preferences to discuss. Now when I was on my internship these were things that I recognized as being important, however, I never really realized how important they were.
Now in class we were taught that different cultures view time differently, which is why some are more prone to being late for appointments, etc. However, it is very important to realize that this does not apply to everyone and that some people's lives are so tightly scheduled that it makes it difficult to make and keep appointments (which is also why many people don't go to see healthcare professionals until it's too late). I remember someone commenting that that a friend of theirs owned a clinic and had problems with some of their clients being on time and stating "well the clinic is on... and if you have been over there.... " insinuating that the demographics of the area had something to do with the timeliness of the patients. I was actually partially offended by this comment. Needless to say it is very important to avoid stereotyping. Also as frustrating as it may be, it is important to remain patient. In addition to this it is very important for us to also recognize our time management. During my internship I realized that one of the things the patients hated most was sitting around waiting-even if it was only for 5 minutes.
Another thing that is important is recognizing different healing behaviors. This includes how one reacts to treatment as well as what they practice. It is very important to remain unjudgemental and if possible involve their preferred practices in your treatment as long as it won't do them any harm (one should always ask if they have any certain practices, so you can make sure that it won't harm them or contraindicate your treatment). It is also important to pay attention to the patient's behaviors. Though one may assume that one will be happy when they are close to being discharged, some may actually become saddened, as they feel as though they will be losing a friend or have too much idle time. During my internship the patients loved coming to therapy, just because it gave them more to do with their time and because they got to be around other people. I had one patient who was only covered to receive therapy 3 times a week, but she would have come every day if we let her.
I will save the cultural preferences portion for next week. Have a Happy New Year!