Written by Nonye Tochi Aghanya, MSc, RN, FNP-C

Many years ago, I had a conversation with a patient who angrily said to me, “If you don’t know what you’re doing, maybe you should just step down and let someone who knows the job take over.”

This statement was made following the administration of a flu vaccine, after which the patient experienced a sore spot at the site of the injection. Of course, this patient did not know that there is an up to 64% chance of experiencing soreness at an injection site following the intramuscular administration of a flu vaccine.

As a clinician in such a situation, what would you do? How do you effectively respond to such a patient attitude?

We find that rising fears and anxieties can manifest as diverse patient behaviors and attitudes, which can create mistrust in the healthcare setting. My lifelong mission is to create awareness of the factors that contribute to this issue and, more importantly, highlight the solutions that can be implemented to alleviate mistrust in healthcare.

As a healthcare provider for over 30 years, I’ve had contact with patients of various backgrounds and have extensively studied patient behaviors. I’ve also analyzed the effects of various communication styles on behaviors that occur due to underlying anxieties that patients display in healthcare settings. I’ve published various resources for improving communication patterns in healthcare to help alleviate fears and improve a trusting environment for healthcare practitioners and patients. Including online masterclasses that are original, unique, and innovative educational content based on reviews of existing research studies and numerous interactions with diverse groups.

As a population, we must remember that when a pandemic meets protests, our deeds, and not our words, demonstrate compassion, which leads to societal improvement. A patient’s anxiety is comparable to the environment of fear brought on by feelings of the unknown in the healthcare context, among other things.

In my book “Principles For Overcoming Communication Anxiety and Improving Trust”, I talked about a word that is quite common across many establishments, including the healthcare setting: “Adversity”. Such a word is laced with numerous interpretations of its causes, and it notably unfolds with varied emerging ideas of the course of action required to alleviate the agony of its lingering effects. The goal of achieving effective engagements in healthcare practices for efficient care delivery remains a revolving quandary. There are lingering questions that continue to pervade various communities in an era where many are not only dealing with the devastating effects of a pandemic, but also have differing perspectives on the best ways to help stabilize the country’s political, economic, educational, and health structures.

As truths increasingly become as subjective as our diverse personal perceptions, active attempts to create a common understanding through deliberate interactive means are more important than ever.

Growth occurs when we step out in Faith into the uncharted territory of new forms of intentional interactions to form genuine alliances that are not only restricted to our local communities but within our global communities as well. ☤

 www.nonyetochi.com