Trust Building: The Foundation to a Successful ALF/MC Career

One thing that really stuck with me during nursing school was when my instructor said, "If your patient and families trust you, they'll be less likely to be upset about something outside of your control". 

Those words have been the basis of my practice for the past twenty years and it has proved its point many times over.  It has been my mantra and priority every day.

We know there are so many things outside of our control in healthcare.  We are a human industry and not everything will go as planned; an unexpected crisis or resident health change, a true mistake made by ourselves or our staff, a miscommunication. The list goes on. The easiest way to mitigate issues in the future is to communicate and get ahead of it.  Tell your families, residents, or staff what is going on before they can tell you.  

• Do you have a resident who is acting just slightly different, but there are no specific signs of a medical change occurring from assessment?  Send the family a quick message.  Let them know you see this occurring with their loved one, that it may be nothing to worry about, but you and your staff are watching the change closely and will follow up with the family and provider if there are further changes.

• A new behavior occurring?  Let the family know what your staff has reported or what you've been seeing.  If a medication or environmental change is needed in the future to manage the behavior, the family will know that this behavior has been occurring and won't be blindsided when you have to discuss options. 

• Staff struggling with a new behavior or care need? Let them know what you're working on to try to improve the events (communicating with family, speaking with the primary care provider, trying environmental changes, etc). Things may be hard in the moment but they don't last forever.  Give hope that things will improve and you're actively working on the issue.

• Find a mistake that was made? Tell on yourself.  Mistakes are always found out eventually. Trying to hide them is the quickest way to lose all trust. It's best to just let the resident, family, or staff know what occurred.  Apologize, and explain what the plan is to prevent it from occurring in the future. Reporting mistakes is not only honest and best practice, but it increases trust that you are working to do the right thing.  We're all doing these positions for the right reasons, show that you are trustworthy.

  
  

When the people we serve and work with know we are there for them, they are more understanding when something may go wrong, even if it's outside of our control. Following up may seem time consuming but it will save you time, frustration, and potentially worse consequences in the future when your residents, families, and staff trust that you are working to do the right thing.

Reach out to us! We would love to talk with you one on one to discuss how to improve communication and build trust with your residents, families, and staff.