Dealing with patients can be very difficult. The healthcare employees have to deal with the pressure of their own lives and they have to deal with the pressure at work also. It can also be hard for the patient. Being sick is a horrible thing, everybody deal with it differently. The pain can make someone intolerable. For a healthcare worker to be successful you have to have empathy for your patient which is putting yourself in their place so you can understand them better. Some people are born with empathy, they just practice it naturally, but others need to learn and develop it.
Empathy is one of the most important skills a nurse need to have to deal with the anger and fear of patients. A good way to show empathy towards someone is by being a good listener. To be a good listener, you need to listen, maintain eye contact with the patient, ask questions and paraphrase to show the patient that you understand. But listening is not enough. Sometimes you have to talk about yourself in order to find a common ground. And when you finally on the same page show some affection, maybe by touching their hands or shoulders.
Another key thing when practicing empathy is to try to withhold judgment. Don't say immediately that something is good or bad but listen first to get a better understanding of the patient perspective. Another key to empathy is offering …show more content…
Whatever the prejudice might be, either dealing with patients with mental illness, patients that you think are poor or not clean, criminals or even terrorist. To be honest, it will be very hard to put yourself in somebody else place if you are already thinking they are bad people. The best way to avoid these situations is by seeing every patient as a unique individual instead of the part of a group. Practice empathy by withholding judgment, be a good listener, search for things you have in common with the patients and share them with