They say, “You must learn to take care of yourself before you can take care of someone else.” Although this is true for everyone in all possible scenarios that can be thought of, in nursing this saying is pretty much the foundation on which the profession relies. From the time of completing nursing courses in Canada to the time when the professionals actually begin working, they work on their skills of empathy, kindness, and zeal to make lives better.
Nurses are known as inspiring catalysts because not only do they take care of patients, but they also play an important part in innovating, inspiring, and influencing everyone around them. Being the first point of contact for the patients, nurses have immense power to empower the patients by reinstating faith and optimism within them.
While studying for the one year or 2-year nursing program in Canada, nurses are taught that all patients are unique and there will be a need to teach, inspire, and relate with each one of them differently. Practicing a variety of ways in which the promotion of good health and healing can take place, nurses use multiple opportunities to share their knowledge and skills. They use new patient care strategies so that the patients get inspired to look after themselves independently after getting discharged.
Even the little things that the nursing professionals do on an everyday basis such as conducting themselves with positivity leave a lasting impact on the mind and body of patients. Nurses teach the patients how to be grateful and practice humility while taking the health challenges in a good stride so that it can become easy to overcome them.
In this blog, we will look at the 5 ways in which nurses inspire patients to take better care of their health. Read on to see the various ways in which nurses add value to the lives of patients.
1. Detecting Patient Needs: Nurses are trained to motivate the patients by understanding the simple fact that every patient has different needs. Where some patients are inspired to understand their health problems from the beginning, some are not. After interacting with the patients, nurses formulate the best case scenarios for dealing with these patients.
The patients who are highly motivated and recognize the significance of wellness can be quickly inspired to put in an integrated effort for achieving a specific goal. Even though these patients need support from nurses, it is understandable with just a little push, these patients will do the needful and take care of their health.
On the other hand, while dealing with non-compliant patients, nurses recognize the warning signs in the beginning only. In this case, the first step in the course of action is to flag off all these signs for an effective patient inspiration strategy.
Nurses maintain a sharp focus on these patients and work dedicatedly to reinforce their beliefs in the importance of rehabilitation and wellness. The treatment plan is devised in a way that maximum motivation can be instilled within the patients. Nurses ensure to explain the wellness goals to the patients by offering them a significant rationale for every single step. This further helps in accounting for every barrier that might be in a patient’s life and make the prescriptions suitable and manageable for the patients.
2. Using Integrated Patient Communication: Another patient motivation technique that is also considered as an important skill to become a competent nurse is effective communication. Nurses are encouraged to inculcate and build upon this skill from the time they begin studying the nursing courses in Canada.
Nurses work to inspire the patients to follow a health action by having a baseline of patient trust and goodwill. Another important strategy for patient motivation is considered motivational interviewing. Nurses change the direction of a conversation for stimulating the patient’s desire to change by giving them the confidence to do the same.
In addition, the nurses also guide the patients all through the process of setting goals and underlining the significance of wellness. Studying and learning to deal with patients with a two-way conversation around goal setting leads the nurses to inspire patients for becoming entirely invested in wellness.
As opposed to different strategies that are commonly used by nurses, effective communication with patients is way more goal-directed, focussed, and patient-centric. The main goal here is to empower the patients to emanate self-motivation. Hence, the idea is not to solve the patient’s problem entirely but to develop a plan that enables the patient to resolve ambivalence, develop momentum, and believe that a behavioral change is possible.
With the use of open-ended discussions, affirmations, and reflective listening, nurses work to reinstate inspiration. They spark encouragement for maintaining wellness or making a lifestyle change by providing practical advice that can facilitate behavioral change and keep patients motivated all along the way.
3. Practicing Tenacity: The nursing profession is rewarding yet challenging. There are numerous challenges that nurses have to deal with on a daily basis. From the time their shift begins, nursing professionals are on their toes as they tend to the needs of patients and check the tasks that are assigned to them by physicians or leaders, and managers. Regardless of these challenges, nurses are tenacious in their approach to get things done.
The training that these nurses receive while studying nursing courses in Canada enables them to work like a true professional who protects and promotes the wellness of patients. Working as a nurse teaches gratitude and humility. There are innumerable ways in which the nursing professional can be vulnerable to suffer from health. Irrespective of this, nurses wake up every morning to deal with the challenges in a commendable way.
Nurses are kind, considerate, and thoughtful professionals. This is what defines their own health and of the patients, they take care of. They listen and tend to the needs of patients with genuine concern. All these things are a fine example of what it means to rise above the challenges and come out as a much better human being. Being in direct contact with the patients enables nurses to showcase the nature of their work very closely.
Being caregivers in the true sense of the word, even the little things that nurses do inspire the patients to step up and understand the importance of self-care. When a patient is truly open to learning from nurses, there is no doubt about the fact that he/she will come out stronger on the other side with good health and well being.
4. Following-up With Patients: Nurses ensure that they follow up actively with their patients when they are dealing with their health problems. Whether it is personal or over an email, nurses do all in their capacity to offer additional support to the patients in their journey to attain wellness.
As mentioned above, nursing professionals are taught to deal with all kinds of patients. This makes them understand that sparking inspiration will not be the same feat. Some patients will need to be pushed repeatedly so that they understand the importance of taking due care of themselves.
Hence, from the time a patient gets admitted to the time when the patient is discharged, nurses follow up to ensure that the patient is on the path to recovery. Nursing courses in Canada teach and train the nurses to become a force for good that plays a major role in the lives of patients.
It is because of the world-class education received by nurses that they are able to relate to the pain of the patients and care for them with heightened concern. When the patients see the nurses following up time and again, they get inspired to understand the importance of healthcare and assume the responsibility of taking better self-care.
5. Prioritizing Self-Care: This is a motto based on “practice what you preach” that nurses must follow to inspire the patients. To do this as a nurse every day, the professionals are needed to take good care of themselves, which means putting self-care before anything else. The patients expect the nurse to educate them on their health conditions. However, this role might not be taken so seriously in case the nurse does not have good health by prioritizing self-care.
For example; if the nurses are educating their patients to have a healthy lifestyle but fail to apply the same advice in personal lives then it will contradict the care provided by nurses. If this happens then the patient will naturally be less likely to bring a change in their behavior.
Hence, nurses allow themselves proper self-care so that they can always be at the front when it comes to their work. This enables them to discuss the challenges and accomplishments derived from self-care that further inspire the patients to inculcate similar habits in their own lives. When nurses realize the influence that they have on the patients, they can begin to do wonders in terms of safeguarding and promoting good health in patients.
Conclusion:
Nurses are in a unique place to influence the lives of patients that they take care of, day in and day out. From treating the patients to mentoring them, nurses can inspire patients in many ways.
A nursing career is rightfully so, one of the most rewarding vocations in various avenues. There is never a limit to the positive impact that nurses can create and what nurses can learn all their lives.
