Patients needing medical care will often tell you: Those first healthcare professionals they meet will likely be the most important in helping them feel confident, safe, and heard.
Depending on their concerns, patients may feel vulnerable. They may be scared or anxious. They might’ve gone down an endless, unfortunate rabbit hole of online research that makes them fear they’re far sicker than they are.
So among the essential skills for medical assisting students, empathy is at the top of that list.
“I try to be understanding,” medical assistant Tracy May told online publication HCA Healthcare Today about her role. “Everyone is going through something…I try to be compassionate and consider that we’re all struggling and just trying to do our best.”
The good news: Empathy can be learned. Keep reading to uncover how medical assistants can show compassion toward patients, essential information if you’re on the road to becoming an MA — or if you’re already practicing and meeting patients daily.
Bedside Etiquette
On the road to becoming a medical assistant, you’re often taught many valuable and practical skills. But some programs marginalize (or even altogether ignore) those all-important people skills. That’s ok — the following suggestions will help you improve your compassionate approach to patient-centered care.
Perhaps you’ve encountered a healthcare professional with an incredible bedside manner in your past (or, conversely, one who showed absolutely no bedside etiquette), but it may feel hard to define. While it can mean different things to different people, strong bedside etiquette often involves:
- Treating your patient like a partner
- Allowing the patient to tell their story without interruption
- Exhibiting supportive body language as they speak about their concerns
Here are three other practical ways to build your bedside manner:
Introduce Yourself
The simple act of telling your patients your name and that you’re here to help them can serve to put your patient at ease from the very beginning of a medical visit. Nerves are heightened for your patient, so offering that simple connection is a gift that may have a significant impact on their comfort.
Demonstrate Active Listening
When you’re performing an initial assessment on your patient, you’ll be taking down practical information like age, weight, and blood pressure numbers. During this process, it’s also important to engage in active listening, asking open-ended questions and reflecting back with compassion. Try techniques like paraphrasing and asking for clarification to make a patient feel supported and heard.
Treat Them How You Would Want to be Treated
One technique that may help you as an MA to improve your bedside manner is to put yourself in your patient’s shoes as you begin conversations, thinking about how they must be feeling. When you try to understand their concerns and possible fears, this often results in slight adjustments to your care approach.
Compassion
Exhibiting empathy toward your patients does more than simply help them feel supported. In fact, research has shown that compassionate care predicts faster recovery. So when you take the time to improve your patient approach, you’re investing in better health outcomes for your patients.
As you’re learning about your future MA role or already in practice, you’ll have access to many helpful resources. And almost every professional organization, podcast, or online community you access will offer guidance on compassionate care. What does compassion look like, exactly? Below, find three examples of techniques that will help you develop your empathy.
Acknowledge Your Patients’ Feelings
Patients are often meeting you in a vulnerable place, yet you’re there performing the functions of your daily job. This difference in context can sometimes lead an MA to a more practical approach to patients. However, by simply acknowledging your patients’ feelings — something like “I understand that you’re concerned, but we’re here to help” — you’re breaking down a potential wall and inviting your patient to feel safe.
Read the Room
When you enter a patient room (or walk them back from the reception area), take a few moments to assess their body language. Do they seem agitated? Is there something you can do to help from the outset — like provide a magazine to distract them while they wait, or turn up the heat if they’re shivering? Simple gestures that enhance their environmental comfort can lead to a better patient experience.
Sympathize When You Can’t Empathize
While exhibiting empathy asks you to put yourself in another person’s shoes, sympathy is a bit less personal. However, it still involves showing genuine concern for another human. So even if you can’t relate to what a patient is saying, you can value them as a human with concerns, and you can act as a healthcare advocate dedicated to helping them.
Clear Communication
As a medical assistant, you’ll be asked to communicate in various ways on a daily basis — verbally, nonverbally, and in writing. And these forms of communication can all impact the kind of care your patients receive and your entire healthcare team delivers.
Unfortunately, communication barriers are common. Our different backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives can sometimes lead to miscommunication. So your goal as a healthcare provider must be to remove these barriers as often as possible to achieve mutual understanding. Below, find three ways to help you communicate clearly.
Be Candid and Concise
Medical language can sometimes be vague, which can lead to misunderstanding. Whenever possible, be specific in your language, and resist the temptation to overexplain. Information overload is real for some patients, so giving them the right amount to make good healthcare decisions is important.
Speak in Nonmedical Terms
We speak jargon with our peers on a daily basis, but your patients do not share your level of education or familiarity with healthcare topics. Try to use nonmedical terms whenever possible. If a technical term is required, ask if they understand it, and then offer a definition in layman terms.
Use Engaged Body Language
You may have heard research offering that anywhere from 70 to 93% of communication happens nonverbally. This means that your words are secondary to how you send a message. Mirroring your patient’s body language and standing in an open position (without arms crossed or a device between you and your patient) are two techniques of engaged body language.
Personability
In an age punctuated by abundant digital applications and a notable rise in artificial intelligence, the power of humanity in healthcare settings cannot be overstated. So if you’re looking to enhance your medical assistant skillset while building meaningful (and potentially lifesaving) connections with patients and peers, look first toward those all-important soft skills.
It doesn’t take much to add dimension and humanity to patient interactions. Here are just three suggestions that will add a more personable approach to your patient encounters.
Act Warmly
As you greet your patients, there is perhaps no gesture more important than a simple, genuine smile. Treat the beginning of every interaction as an opportunity to connect, as this will set the stage for the entire encounter. Remember that you share a common bond with your patient: You’re both humans, meaning you’re social creatures who crave connection.
Ask Questions About Themselves
We’ve all experienced the common (and sometimes throw-away) questions from a person who seems unengaged: “How are you?” and “How is your day?” may be open-ended, but they seldom elicit a personal response. Try to get to know your patients through a few questions that may provide insights into who they are — perhaps about their jobs, their families, or their day-to-day lives.
Recall Personal Details
If you’re seeing a patient you’ve met before, don’t underestimate the power of recalling information they shared about themselves during your last encounter. Remembering their job, their children’s names, or a key detail about a previous visit can help make them feel important, calming their nerves and brightening their spirit.
Support
If you’re looking to improve your patient care as a medical assistant, one critical skill is knowing how to empower those around you through the resources and support you offer. Your patients are turning to you at a time of need — whether it’s for an annual visit, or something more concerning.
It’s important to keep in mind that your role frequently lies at the intersection of the patient and provider relationship — you’re often a liaison, meaning you’ll be asked to clarify information on behalf of both patient and physician. With that context, being a source of support often looks like the following:
Open the Floor to Questions
Patients are looking for information, so simply asking them to provide you with their questions is the first step. You won’t always know the answers, and that’s ok — again, this is where your role as liaison between patient and provider comes in handy. Tell them you’re happy to collect their questions, and then communicate them to the healthcare team.
Empower Their Decision-Making
Patients play the most critical role in their own healthcare journey, so they need the information and guidance that allows them to make good decisions. Providing information in their preferred format — whether that’s a handout or link to further resources— relaying their messages, and following up with them will help them fulfill this important role.
Express Gratitude
Support comes in many forms, and one of the most important is through gratitude. Some MAs find it helpful to remember that the reason they’re able to fulfill their calling — to help patients — is because of the patients themselves. So letting them know you’re grateful for their involvement in their own healthcare — and allowing you to be part of their team — is a powerful reflection of your empathy.
