The lovely and talented Ms. Marvelyne and I visited a new doctor a few days ago. The practice wanted to get a baseline of her blood work, so after seeing the doc, we waited in the waiting room for the vampire. This was a simple blood extraction; nothing fancy. The flubotomist(did I spell that right?) asked if she wanted to have the draw sitting there, or would we rather go back to the lab...She (my wife) said, "It doesn't matter to me, wherever is better for you."
Now...wait for it, wait for it.....
The vampire's response: "Let's go back to the lab, just in case we get blood everywhere."
Really? Is that something that comforts the patient? The potential of their precious blood being smeared all over the room? Yeesh!
When conversing with a patient, take a moment or two to think about your words. Do they make the patient feel like he/she is in good hands? Does your statement offer comfort? Support? Does it abide by the simple notion: First, do no harm?
As you may expect, this did not go well. It took two or three sticks and the vampire seemed more anxious than Marvelyne. I firmly believe this wasn't completely due to incompetence, but to a self fulfilling prophecy. When the statement about blood everywhere was made, both Marvelyne and I said something like, "Wow, that's comforting!" That 10 second communication set the stage; a vampire uncomfortable with his own abilities, a patient feeling their care is incompetent...not a good combination. Think for just a split second before choosing the words you say to a patient...it can set the stage for excellence...or disaster.
No comments:
Post a Comment