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If you want to have some kind of a career in healthcare, then you need to make sure that you are as focused on the patient as you possibly can be. They, after all, are exactly the reason that you are in the role you’re in, and the better that you are able to look after them, the better you will be doing in your career. You might be running a practice of your own, or you might be starting your way from the bottom as a junior doctor, nurse or even a healthcare assistant. Whatever your role and whatever your dreams for your career, you must ensure that you are looking after the patient and putting them first at all times. Let’s take a look at how you can ensure you are doing exactly that without fail every time.

Communicating Clearly

If you are able to clearly communicate with your patients, then you will find that you have done most of the hard part of taking care of them. Communicating with your patients is always going to be tough, but as long as you can do it in a way which will make sense and make things clear for them, they are much less likely to worry, and it will mean that you are able to look after them as well as you would hope and like to. There are many considerations here, ranging from the way that you approach them face to face and whether to use healthcare graphics like these: vomela.com/healthcare. But as long as you are communicating clearly, they will feel a lot more looked after and you will be sure of doing your job much more effectively.

Giving Options

Ultimately, your patient almost always has the final say, and you need to make sure that you respect that at all times. While there might be times when you feel moved to strongly suggesting they change their mind, you should ultimately allow them to make a free choice. Of course, that means that they should also be informed, as otherwise it is not a true free choice. So make sure that they know all the implications of any choice they need to make, and then allow them to make it. Ultimately this is down to them, as it is their health we are talking about and not your own. See https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/10/give-patients-pros-cons-treatment-options.html for a discussion of this.

The Oath

The Hippocratic oath of ‘first do no harm’ is not just something you need to follow legally or morally – it’s also something which you will find informs your best medical practice, and makes things as good for the patient as possible. Ultimately your oil is to ensure that the patient is never going to experience unnecessary pain, and as long as you are doing that you will find that you can make the right choice at all times no matter what. Keep the oath in mind, especially when you are struggling, and you will find it helps to direct you on the right path to take.