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Provider-Focused Insights from Clear Cane Chronicles

Posted for a limited time to conference participants. 

These insights are informed by what has helped me as a patient, and are offered with deep respect for all providers, whether you work in a hospital, an independent practice, or any other healthcare setting. I understand that not every item will apply to every provider, depending on specialty, setting, and other factors, but I hope they still resonate and inspire reflection.

Access, Communication & Care Transitions

• Establish Clear Protocols Around Patient Engagement: Ensure all team members are equipped and empowered to identify and address safety, quality, and ethical concerns that impact the patient experience and outcomes.
• Manage Expectations: When engaging with patients and families, explain wait times, provide interim guidance, and offer reassurance when immediate answers aren’t possible.
• Anticipate Information Bottlenecks: Collaborate with colleagues and use digital tools such as patient portals, secure messaging, and automated reminders to keep patients informed and engaged about test results, referrals, and other important information.
• Foster Transparency: Use plain language to explain conditions, treatments, processes, and potential side effects or risks. Seek to understand patients’ concerns and uncertainties and offer alternative approaches when appropriate.
• Support Shared Understanding: Whenever possible, document clinical findings with specificity rather than abbreviations like “WNL” to promote accurate communication across care teams, support patient understanding, and help prevent safety issues caused by misinterpretation or delays in diagnosis and treatment.
• Ensure Continuity and Clarity During Care Transitions: Before transfers, inform patients of the steps you’ve taken to support safe, consistent care. Explain the reasons for the transfer, what to expect during the transition, and who will be responsible for each aspect of care. Review key information directly with the patient rather than assuming another provider has done so—this might include risks, side effects, and care details. Follow up with the patient and the next care team to promote a safe, seamless transition.

Person-Centered Relationships & Shared Decision-Making

• Combine Expertise with Empathy: Cultivate self-awareness to recognize and address preconceived notions, and use this understanding to provide respectful, high-quality care to every patient.
• Factor in the Whole Person: Recognize how patients’ values, beliefs, and life circumstances affect their engagement in care. Tailor communication and care plans to align with these factors, fostering trust, collaboration, and improved health outcomes.
• Build Trust: Listen attentively to patients, support them through challenging decisions, and consistently follow through on commitments.
• Practice Shared Decision-Making: Explain the importance of evidence-based options and consider alternative approaches suggested by patients. For all treatment options, discuss possible risks and side effects in plain language, and collaborate with the patient to select the best fit.
• Empower Patients: Encourage patients to ask questions and advocate for themselves. Provide evidence-based, user-friendly information to help them understand their condition and treatment options.
• Respect Patient Wishes: After clearly communicating prognosis and treatment options, support patients and families in advance care planning to ensure care aligns with their values and preferences, while upholding standards of safe and effective medical care.
• Reflect and Evolve: Develop and use strategies to regularly reflect on your interactions with patients to foster self-awareness and more productive patient engagement. Encourage your colleagues to do the same.

Family, Support Networks & Self-Management

• Empower and Support Caregivers: Provide caregivers with written guidance and ongoing support to help them effectively manage the patient’s care and prevent burnout. Use regular check-ins and teach-back methods to confirm their understanding and reinforce a collaborative partnership.
• Communicate Effectively: Use plain language and avoid medical jargon. Provide patient information in multiple accessible formats and languages. Adapt your approach for people with different communication needs, including those who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or have low vision, by using interpreters, assistive technology, or accessible formats, ensuring everyone can understand and participate in their care.
• Provide Patient Education Resources: Ensure access to credible education materials and support for self-care at every stage of care, including after discharge. Help patients understand how to evaluate resources to identify credible sources and recognize those that may be questionable or harmful.
• Promote Caregiver Well-Being: Acknowledge the emotional and physical challenges caregivers face. Encourage caregivers to practice self-care, access respite services, and participate in support groups to reduce stress, maintain their health, and sustain compassionate care.

Emotional, Physical & Environmental Support

• Foster Emotional Security: Create an environment that encourages open communication by acknowledging patient concerns and connecting them with appropriate emotional support resources.
• Monitor for Mental Health Needs: Proactively assess and address depression, anxiety, grief, and other mental health concerns throughout care.
• Promote Provider Well-Being: Address burnout, foster resilience, and cultivate a culture that supports empathy and maintains high-quality, safe care among providers by supporting strategies such as peer support, mindfulness, workload management, and safe working conditions.
• Communicate Accessibility Features: Inform patients about accessibility features as needed (e.g., ramps, adaptive equipment, Braille, and tactile signage). Let them know how to request accommodations, and remind staff to proactively discuss these options with patients so that everyone can access the care they need.
• Promote Safety Awareness: Inform patients about safety features such as emergency call buttons, handrails, non-slip flooring, and fall-prevention protocols that help create a secure environment. Share how the facility upholds clinical safety by managing medications, preventing infections, and ensuring accurate patient identification and appropriate care.

Coordination, Community & Innovation

• Coordinate Across Services: Work with medical, social, and community services to ensure comprehensive support both in and out of the clinical setting.
• Close Health Gaps: Take proactive steps to identify and eliminate health disparities throughout diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. When using AI and other technologies, ensure data and algorithms represent the diverse populations you serve and actively monitor for unintended bias in their use. 
• Encourage Meaningful Activities: Learn what is important to each patient and support engagement in activities that reflect their individual interests and values.
• Stay Current with Technology: Help patients identify and select technologies that support their care, independence, and overall well-being. These may include assistive devices, AI-powered solutions, and commonly available tools like smartphone apps and built-in device features.
  Holistic Care
• Consider Social Drivers of Health: Take into account patients’ social and environmental factors (e.g., housing stability, access to reliable transportation, food security) when creating care plans to ensure personalized, effective care.
• Collaborate with Colleagues: Partner regularly with colleagues from various specialties and locations to address patients’ holistic needs and prevent secondary conditions.
• Minimize Social Isolation: Be alert to the ways medical conditions can lead to social isolation and take proactive steps to help prevent this outcome.
• Respect Individual Needs: Accommodate dietary restrictions, routines, cultural practices, and religious needs in ways that align with the quality and safety of care.
• Provide Respectful End-of-Life Care: Honor patient values and preferences throughout the care journey, including during the transition from active treatment to end-of-life care.

Quality Improvement & System Change 

• Seek Feedback from Patients and Families: Use plain-language surveys, micro-surveys, and digital tools to gather real-time input. Monitor social media reviews for themes, and engage focus groups or advisory committees with attention to privacy and accessibility.
• Analyze Feedback and Implement Change: Track feedback for patterns that reveal strengths and gaps. Use findings to update systems, reduce barriers, and improve care. Follow up when input warrants a direct response.
• Review and Update Care Plans: Regularly revisit care plans with patients and families, and update them as needed.
• Protect Patient Privacy: Ensure that workflow pressures, physical layout, communication challenges, or other factors do not compromise privacy and confidentiality requirements.
• Monitor Billing Accuracy: Reduce delays in care and the loss of provider time and revenue caused by billing errors. Regularly assess procedures, ensure claims are accurate and complete, and provide ongoing training to minimize denials.