The nursing profession and customer service go hand in hand. If you want to be very successful in your nursing career realize that means your customer service skills need to be honed, because people can be needy!
Truthfully, nursing is a unique profession because we have the ability to treat people from all walks of life, from all ethnic backgrounds, with all different needs. The common thread is they all want to feel cared for by you. Some may push the boundaries and some may require little attention, but as their nurse it is your responsibility to assess those needs and/or wants, find a healthy balance for yourself and treat the patient.
I will tell you that going an extra mile for a patient or family that is incredibility needy will usually end in them taking more and more from you. They will push those boundaries as far as you will allow. It may start with an extra towel that you had to walk all the way to the laundry room for, but it will end with an ridiculous requests for nightly neck rubs. These are the patients you need to set boundaries with.
How do you set those boundaries . . .
- Let the patient know you understand their want/need
- Explain that you will have the appropriate person accommodate their want/need as soon as possible
- gently explain that you have more then one patient who also requires nursing care
- Do not give in to your set boundaries
However, customer service will become your best friend when you need to get an unhappy patient or family to ease up on you. When you sense a patient is angry from the start, or thinks you are incompetent then you go the extra two miles to show them you are aware how they feel and you will show them otherwise. For example: if they have a pain medication due at a specific time show up 5 minutes early, if they have been complaining of getting cold coffee every morning, then make it appoint to bring them a fresh hot cup. By doing these small things it will prove that you have noticed their needs and/or wants. They feel cared for, therefore you did part of your job.
Customer service doesn’t have to be complicated. You have to understand your patients/families wants and provide them the care they need to feel cared for. Once you use your customer service skills to win them over, all you have to do now is heal them!