As soon as you become a licensed practical nurse, for healthcare systems, it’s difficult enough to keep track of the patient’s medical history, care plans, medications, lab results, allergies, and vitals. Here are some strategies that you can use to get through clinical hours with “high-needs family” situations.

1. Ways To Deal with Patient’s
Family Members
(TIPS FOR LPNS)

2. As soon as you become a licensed practical nurse, for
healthcare systems, it’s difficult enough to keep track of the
patient’s medical history, care plans, medications, lab
results, allergies, and vitals. You also need to use your
critical thinking skills to identify potential problems and
assess them during your nursing job. Add in a difficult
family situation, and your shift becomes hard.
Family members may be verbally abusive, insensitive or
come to the healthcare facility intoxicated, causing chaos.
Here are some strategies that you can use to get through
clinical hours with “high-needs family” situations.

3. Once you’re done with the report, in a skilled nursing facility, and you know that you have
a family member with higher needs, you should go to this room.
Be realistic about your expectations, but be flexible. It is impossible to predict when an
emergency might arise with one of your patients during your healthcare career and
clinical practice. You can’t predict outcomes as health nurses in a clinical setting.
Spend More Time Communicating
As healthcare professionals, begin by looking at your patients. Make sure they are safe
and stable with hands-on training. Keep them informed. Next, prepare your medications
and supplies. Get your computer on wheels. Then head to the “difficult room.” Be patient,
take your time in this clinical experience, and explain why you are doing what you’re
doing. Give them a rough plan for the day by reviewing lab reports, pending tests, and
doctor’s orders.
As health care professionals, List all their questions and concerns and post them on the
whiteboard. It works for nursing careers!
Set Realistic Expectations And Be Honest

4. Set Your Boundaries
There may be instances at medical facilities where family members are
not being respectful of the healthcare administration. Set boundaries
and be firm with yourself and your team. Perhaps some bedside guests
are making insensitive comments about you, being aggressive, calling
out your name, cursing at or calling you names.
Understandably, people sometimes need to vent and express their
frustrations in a healthcare setting. This doesn’t mean that you should be
a punching bag and cursed all day while still trying to care for your
patients while offering healthcare services.
Learn how to communicate respectfully when you are in a situation
where you are crossing a line. You can say something like, “I won’t allow
myself to be treated or spoken to in this manner.” I want to protect your
loved ones and take care of them.

5. Family members and loved ones of patients may feel helpless or
stressed during a hospital stay. As a nurse, during clinical
rotations, you can spend extra time while offering care to patients
to teach and empower them.
Even the smallest tasks on the clinical site can be important. You
can assign them tasks as the nursing staff, such as elevating their
legs with pillows and ensuring their head is at the right level.
As your patient nears discharge, Being the nurse educator for
patient safety and essential care, you can educate the family about
patient care tasks they might perform at home. You will not be
able to go home with the patients, but they will.
Include The Family in Patient Care

6. Conclusion
You and the patient’s loved ones should share the same goal:
care for patients. These difficult family situations in the medical
field can be taken one day at a time, hourly, minutely, and shift
at the same time with nursing skills during clinical training or
in the nursing profession. This is what you have been preparing
for as nursing students being a part of the nursing education
during your weekend nursing programs in the nursing field.
Put yourself in their shoes and remember they may have the
best intentions. Isn’t this what we learn in an LPN Programs?
https://vervecollege.edu/ways-to-deal-with-patients-family-
members-tips-for-lpns/

7. Take advantage
of the tools available.
WHELTON SCHOOL OF MARKETING | SESSION 1
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