PHPEP Rituals, Why?

Ritual is any practice or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner. PHPEP does recommend daily ritual to promote and practice the virtues of humanity in our health care and create the magical trust and authentic connection with patients. These rituals also act as a reminder to health professionals how valuable their job is, so they can reflect on them and savor the fulfilment.

  1. DAILY REMINDER OF OUR VALUES & GOLDEN RULE:

Every day we need to reflect on our values and achievements. Daily reminder of our values and golden rules will allow us to start the day with the positive attitude and smile. It helps us to establish a positive state of mind before starting our work. It is also important to remember the positive events that happened at work with your patients or your colleagues and the stories of humanity that was associated with positive emotions and contentment.

  1. KNOW YOUR PATIENTS` PROBLEMS AND TREATMENT GOALS
  2. MORNING & EVENING ROUND WITH CHARGE NURSE
  3. HOURLY ROUND WITH PATIENTS
  4. DAILY ROUND WITH PHYSICIANS
  5. DAILY ROUND WITH FAMILY
  6. DAILY FOLLOW UP PHONE CALLS

In order to create and share positive experiences and emotions we have to establish a sense of trust and authentic connection. In our health care one of the most powerful way to create the trust is to be knowledgeable and truthful. Therefore knowing the patients, their problems and the treatment goals are essential. This knowledge can be established and updated by frequent personal rounding and rounding with charge nurses and physicians. Frequent updating the family and follow up phone calls would do wonder to create a sense of comfort and trust among the patients and their families.

  1. CREATE CONNECTION. ASK QUESTION, “LISTEN” & BE PRESENT

Creating an authentic connection is an art, but it is an art that can be learnt by practice. It requires your full presence and attention. Even if you are extremely busy and exhausted you still can dedicate a few minutes of your full attention to the patients and their family. Patients have to see the sense of compassion, care and kindness in your eyes, facial gesture, posture, tone of voice and your attitude. Then you need to listen, be curious, ask questions, share stories and value their opinion. You have to be patient, tolerant, generous and grateful. You have to put yourself in their shoes and understand their perspectives to the problems and not being judgmental. This approach would create the magical sense of trust and deep connection.

  1. QUICKER RESPONSE TO PATIENTS` NEEDS

An illness is associated with fear, anger, uncertainty and despair. Therefore, patients and their family would lose the real sense of time. Every minute feels like a long time, especially if it`s associated with lack of care from the health professionals. Instead, a quick acknowledgement of their needs would make them feel appreciated and important. Patients usually don’t get upset and disappointed by lack of a quick response, if they know you care and value them.

  1. EDUCATE, ENCOURAGE, AND EMPOWER YOUR PATIENTS

Most patients come to the hospital with minimal knowledge about their problems and treatment plans. The lack of understanding of their disease creates fear, anger and despair. One way to create an authentic connection and trust with patients is to educate them. The health professional knowledge about patients` problems and plans would make them feel safe and secure. Health professionals also need to encourage the patients, help them feel better, give them hope and empower them to participate in their treatment plans. Empowerment is creating an accountability in our patients to be part of the healing program.

  1. TREAT THEM WITH RESPECT AND DIGNITY, “NO BIASES”

Patients come to the hospital with different socioeconomic background, race, gender and skin color. Hospital is the best place to lose respect and dignity. The patient gets stripped from their cloths and get identified by a number, and then they are pulled in different directions to get labs, x-rays or undergo procedures. Health professional responsibility is to treat them with respect and dignity with no bias and prejudice, make them feel safe and welcome.

  1. TREAT THEIR PAIN “WISELY”, USE YOUR JUDGMENT

Hospital is not a narcotic buffet and the health professionals are not drug dealers. Of course, we have to do our best to treat the patients` pain, but this treatment should be done wisely to assure the accurate assessment of their pain and appropriate treatment.

  1. BE ACCOUNTABLE AND BACK EACH OTHER UP, TEAM WORK

Accountability means taking responsibility not only for your actions but also for actions of co-workers towards the main goal of patient care. We are all responsible for the outcome of our patients` treatment and need to take pride and pleasure to back each other up for achieving the main goal of patient health and wellbeing.

  1. BE POSITIVE, AND ENCOURAGE POSITIVE EMOTIONS

Positive attitude and mind set at our work are everything. Medicine is dealing with suffering of others at all the time and there are so many struggles every day and without the positive attitude and mind set we cannot survive this environment. This positive mind set will affect our patients` outcome as well.

  1. BE PATIENT, TOLERANT, GENEROUS, & GRATEFUL

There are a lot of struggles, turmoil, and negatives that we have to encounter in a daily basis in our profession. Therefore it is critical to be patient, tolerant and generous. We need to understand and recognize the tremendous value of our job and appreciate the privilege to be part of this divine profession.

  1. BE AWAR OF THE PATIENT ENVIRONMENT & BE PROACTIVE

Hospital is our second house and we need to be sensitive and proactive to the cleanliness and quietness of our hospital.

  1. REFLECT ON DAILY POSITIVE EXPERIENCES

We have to try to reflect on good things that happen to us daily and remember the feeling of satisfaction. We need to reflect on things that we did and contribute, and honor them and be grateful.

  1. SHARE THE POSITIVE EXPERIENCE WITH OTHERS

The idea is to share ‘stories’ of compassion, care, and kindness with colleagues and our patients. The acknowledgment of these acts would encourage us to do more, to promote our bond for an incredible cause and improve our relationship with patients.