Patients' Needs
Understand that if patients had a choice between a nice restaurant and visiting the x-ray department, they would naturally choose…!
They are in an altered state of awareness and fear of the unknown is profound.
They may also have fear of loss of control.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs
People strive from a basic level of physiologic needs toward a level of self-actualization.
Each level of needs must be satisfied before an individual proceeds to the next level.
Patients are often at the lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy.
Patient Dignity
A patient's dignity deals with a his/her self-esteem.
Patients feel a strong loss of power over their fate.
Embarrassing situations may isolate them from others.
They often have loss of privacy and access to loved ones.
They may ahve feelings of guilt on several fronts.
Things to Remember:
•Communication skills are essential to good medical imaging.
•A good communication process is a closed loop.
•Communication strategies need to accommodate the uniqueness of each patient.
•Patients enter the health care setting feeling vulnerable and outside their comfort zone.
•Medical professionals recognize these feelings and act with compassion and empathy for the patient's welfare.
•Aging and terminal patients present their own set of patient care challenges.