Inspired by #HLN2, “Fewer words matter too”, this is a two-part series on listening to patients, for healthy decision-making. In this week’s episode, we focus on why listening is still an important skill that never goes out of style. The second part will be published next week. Also, don’t forget to sign up for my upcoming Twitter space conversation on “Building empathy in health communication” this Sunday at 5:00 pm (WAT).
Pikin wey nor dey hear word go go the same message twice!
[The child who refuses to listen will run the same errand, twice.]
This adage cracks me up to no end.😂😂😂
I am reminded of my days at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I’d lived in Zik’s Flat, a hostel far away from any of the lecture halls where we took basic (first) year courses. On the days I had the money, I did not mind going by taxi. On most days, I trekked. This walkabout-ing was not funny at all! Even worse, was getting to a lecture and realizing I had forgotten an important material useful for the day… Hmmm! Sigh! The anger is better imagined than expressed in writing. I would have to trek or taxi back to the hostel, pick up whatever it was I had forgotten and return to class.
It took me one same habit to reduce this issue: writing. The night before I’d make a list of everything that should go into my school bag: specific text and notebooks, food/snack, water, manuals, money, lab coats, etc. I never had and still do not have the energy to waste. But it’s not just a function of energy. You lose time to do other things like reading two pages of a book, or money that could solve other problems. Sometimes, it’s a struggle to hold or find your temper, as you are about to lose it, or after you’d lost it on the person who took the seat you reserved for a lecture in Jimbaz Hall, when you return from that second missionary journey.
I am sure this is not a strange feeling! No one likes to waste one’s own time!
Imagine what it must feel like when we don’t pay attention: to ourselves, and most importantly, to others. It’s like that one day in my career life, when the director of a facility queried a team member for requesting a more expensive radiodiagnostic test, when a simple x-ray would have done the work, because he had made a wrong assumption. The director, who doubled as a consultant, as he usually did, simply posed a question: would you have done this same thing, if he were your blood relative? The answer, my friends, is almost always a quiet no.
All things being equal—balance on external forces, good welfare and work culture, healthy practitioner-per-patient ratio, the patient, among others—listening can ease the burden on patients, patients' relatives, and even practitioners. We save resources, mental and physical, for ourselves and those we serve.
Listening allows you and your patient to make the best of the already-limited time you have together. It reduces the chances of medical/diagnostic errors and waste. We cut down on duplicity of efforts that can be channelled into solving other problems when we do all possible to get it right the first time. Most importantly, we form good patient-provider relationships, because patients appreciate it when they feel seen and heard and are most likely to repeat their visit to a facility/practitioner when we show that they are well understood. Finally, we strengthen health outcomes in settings where we make patients or clients feel worthy and prioritized, because we show, even in this fragile economy, that people are still worth more than the profits we make.
When we listen, we acknowledge and put aside every personal bias that we may have and focus on the person before us. Listening is a sign of respect. It shows that despite what life throws at us, we will be kind enough to open our ears and minds to another who suffers even more. Listening all through is a sign that we are ready to make health decisions based on a patient’s unique situation, and not on stereotypes. (Click to Tweet)
Listening carefully and engaging compassionately with patients helps us, as healthcare workers to reduce or prevent misdiagnosis, improper treatment, medication mistakes, distrust, and patient dissatisfaction. (Click to Tweet)
Let’s continue next week with a few tips, this time, on something even more sensitive. Don’t forget to share what you have learned.
Here’s where to be this weekend!
I am also delighted to invite you to my first Twitter Space conversation. Along with Chidimma Chukukere, Valentine Okechukwu and Favour Nnadi, we will be discussing Building Empathy in Health Communication. Kindly tap the linked image below to set a reminder and to share with or retweet to other colleagues.
Talk soon,
Chidindu Mmadu-Okoli
Health Literacy Notepad.