by L A Myers-Campos

Created on: August 29, 2009   Last Updated: August 31, 2009

One of the most reliable ways to evaluate your bedside manner is you- how you feel before, during, and after interacting with a patient. If you feel confident and perhaps eager to see and talk to your patient beforehand, and are then comfortable and calm during the interview, it's probably safe to count you out as a bedside ogre. Remember to arrange your workday in such a way that eliminates a hurried attitude as you perform routine care. When patients feel rushed, stress can increase. Increased stress means decreased healing.

When you come away from the interaction, are you able to remember clearly what was communicated to you? If so, then you are truly listening, and hearing, your patient. You are on your way to mastering one of the most important aspects of good bedside manner! Patients respond much better to listeners than lecturers and actually learn more from your teaching if it is shared casually during conversation. All communication between your patient and you should be a two-way exchange rather than an interrogation or a speech from the caregiver to the patient.

Your next most valuable evaluator is, of course, your patient. Are your patients friendly when you greet them? Do they seem glad to see that you are assigned to their care for your shift? Eye contact from your patients during conversation is a very good sign that you are being received well and goes far toward establishing trust and rapport between caregiver and patient. A good rapport will usually lead to patient compliance. Your efforts toward eye contact will also help your patient open up to you and make for a more thorough ongoing assessment.

Your co-workers can also help you evaluate and improve your bedside manner, either through supportive comments and constructive criticism shared casually, or teaming up for the purpose of auditing and critiquing one another in workshop-fashion. Everyone must remember, however, to be honest and helpful in reviewing and to be humble and receptive when being reviewed. This kind of cooperation makes good nurses, but even better, builds an effective team working together in an environment vibrating with positive energy.

The benefits of having a good bedside manner are abundant for both patient and caregiver, and range all the way from increased patient compliance to decreased staff absenteeism. Harmonious relations improve any setting and in health-care, harmony is conducive to homeostasis simply by nature's design. This restoration of balance is the beginning of the patient's return to health, regardless of what first caused compromise. There is every reason to consider bedside manner one of the most important skills for holistic caregivers to develop and perfect.

Learn more about this author, L A Myers-Campos.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.