Building Trust with Patients in Telephone Triage

Importance of Trust in Nurse-Patient Relationship

• Essential for effective treatment plans.
• Leads to better patient compliance and outcomes.
• Telephone triage nurses have to work harder to establish this trust.

Strategies for Building Trust

1. Involving Patients in the Plan

• Ask empowering questions:
  • What do they think is causing their symptoms?
  • What have they already tried?
• Compliment their efforts.

2. Focusing on Patient Needs

• Avoid discussing personal issues.
• Maintain a professional focus on how to best assist the patient.

3. Sharing Respect

• Include patients in the treatment plan.
• Address patients by their name.
• Avoid using potentially disrespectful terms like "sugar" or "darling."

4. Being Empathetic

• Understand patient views even if you don't agree.
• Sensitivity to patient needs and feelings is crucial.
• Use empathetic statements in each encounter:
  • "I'm so sorry you're in pain."
  • "It's hard to see your child sick, but you're doing a great job."

5. Allowing Emotional Expression

• Acknowledge pain, fear, and exhaustion.
• Do not take emotional expressions personally.
• Consider the patient's perspective for better understanding.

The Role of Listening

• Most information can be acquired by attentive listening.
• Focus on patients’ words and tone of voice to learn what's needed.

Call to Action

• Engage in special activities to build trust with patients.
• Share practices and experiences with colleagues.
• Visit the Learning Center for more resources and share the video with peers.