A @WeNurses @WeMHnurses & @WeLDnurses joint discussion 

Pre chat blog post written by Sally Wilson (@Salsa442)

I have started and deleted this pre-chat more times than ever before, and on reflection it is because of fear; fear that I may do a great lady an injustice.

Dr Kate Granger is a hero of mine, not was, is. I was never fortunate enough to meet or speak with her, but I followed her work avidly on social media. She shared my love of older adults and her compassion, passion and love of her work embodied all I seek to be as a practitioner. She gave us #hellomynameis which is an amazing legacy you can find out more about that here 

http://hellomynameis.org.uk/  http://www.nhsemployers.org/campaigns/hello-my-name-is 

Kate reminded us in the midst of our chaotic work lives we still had to connect with our patients in order to deliver the best care we can, and the easiest, quickest way to achieve this was to say our names. Be personal. Add that small drop of humanity to what we are delivering to the patients in our care.

What’s in an introduction you may ask, but it’s well documented how important first impressions can be in the development of relationships.

https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/FirstImpressions.htm

It can take only a few seconds when you first meet someone to form a judgement of them, and once that judgement is formed it takes a lot of hard work to change it.

When Kate started live tweeting from her hospital bed I was captivated, here was a doctor whose work I admired incredibly, who had a terminal diagnosis at a very early age and was brave enough to write about it, in real time, as it was happening. Once Kate had tweeted about health care staff not introducing themselves I was initially horrified, believing this was a one off and rarely happened where I worked. 

However what I came to realise is how desensitised I was to introductions, how many health care workers who I respected and valued would just start doing things to patients without so much as a ‘hello’ let alone ‘my name is’

Had we really become so busy we could forgo a simple introduction to the people we serve? It takes approximately 3 seconds to say ‘hello my name is Sally’ and it is vital that we make the time to say this.

Introductions, when done properly, set the tone for all future communication within that relationship. If it only takes 3 seconds to achieve a good start to building a therapeutic relationship, we should all be jumping at the chance to use Kate’s #hellomynameis but my question is, are we? Are we all using #hellomynameis ? Is this simple and yet so effective way of developing good working relationships embedded in every health organisation?

Since Kate’s #hellomynameis campaign started, I have been acutely aware of the need to introduce myself in this way, on every interaction whether that be with patients or colleagues, I have referenced her work in presentations and in my training sessions in a bid to embed this practice in all I meet. It’s simplicity is it’s beauty, it demonstrates our humanity as practitioners, and by this simple introduction a professional barrier is broken, and our patients can see us as people. This has to become a cornerstone for all health professionals.

https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/nurse-managers/humanity-respect-and-dignity-are-the-foundations-of-practice/5049955.article

Kate’s work has profoundly affected and influenced the way I practice, and it has also made me consider other ways in which we can demonstrate our humanity at work. A particular bane to me is how we address our patients when we are talking with each other, I hear all too often requests such as “has anyone seen bed 3’s notes?” or “it’s the fractured NOF in bed 5” and this is something I would like to challenge. Our patients have names as we do and we should be using them, not bed and bay numbers when we are referring to the people we serve. 

We all value our humanity and we should be consciously aware of it in all our professional interactions.

How does our initial introduction shape our patient relationship? How easy is it to develop those strong therapeutic relationships in acute care such as ED’s? How well is #hellomynameis embedded in your organisation? These are just a few questions to explore as we make a conscious decision to bring our humanity to work in every interaction.

Kate tragically passed away on her 11th wedding anniversary, leaving us far too soon, and I felt a great sense of loss for this beautiful and inspiring woman, even though we never met. More than ever I am determined that Kate’s legacy must live on in each and every one of us.

If you feel anything like I do, then please join our chat to explore how we can embed #hellomynameis nationally and how we can improve the quality of our human interactions within our work.