Mindy Spigel
Nurse
Everyday you touch people’s lives. They will never forget you
Mindy Spigel nurse with Bachelor’s and Masters Degree in Nursing. She is also a certified patient experience professional. She has over 40 years of experience working in hospitals and clinics, and teaching in Universities. She was participating at world leading 7-th Patient Experience Symposium in Boston 2023.
You are working as nurse and educator for almost 40 years? What would you say is the value of PX for patients, working staff and hospitals? How to get there? Trainings, coaching?
I am passionate about creating meaningful connections, empathetic relationships and exceptional experiences for patients, families and the health care team. I believe meaningful connections and empathy are critically important to keeping us connected to our own purpose as well as truly being able to reach out to help patients and families effectively.
I believe it is important to first continuously reconnect with your purpose, your WHY for choosing to work in health care. The work is hard and everyday we give so much of ourselves to patients and families at their sickest most vulnerable times. So often we leave work and focus on all the things that did not go right or we wish we had done better. I encourage health care professionals to always focus on what went right. As you leave work, ask yourself “Who did I make a difference for today? “ Everyday you touch people’s lives. They will never forget you. When you stop to think about how important your work truly is, it refuels you. It is even more powerful to tell the people you work with how they have made a difference for you, the team or patients that day. It builds your relationship and helps your team members go home feeling like the work they do is important and makes a difference.
I do believe both training and coaching are important. First, you need to assure the team understand the WHY behind tactics that you are trying to implement and that they have the tools and skills to implement the tactic or strategy. Then coaching can be very useful. I have shadowed and coached physicians, nurses, and other health care team members to help them increase their effectiveness. One doctor once described it as helping them see what they were not seeing.
What are the benefits of laser diopter correction?
Laser diopter correction is one of the most performed refractive procedures in the world. For many people, vision aids, glasses or lenses interfere with daily chores and activities. For example, when playing sports, or with professional drivers they are not allowed. With this method, which lasts only fifteen minutes, the patient can function as if they never had diopters. The result is lasting.
You have wrote a book with a very interesting title and illustration? Can you tell us more about that?
My book is titled: “There is a Snake on My Head! Strategies for Alleviating Fear and Anxiety in Healthcare.” Imagine for a moment that you are afraid of snakes and there is a snake sitting on top of your head. I enter the room and begin to tell you important things that you need to know in order to take care of yourself when you go home. How much will you hear with a snake on your head? I am guessing not much. Everyday, people walk into our doors afraid and while they are frightened, they do not hear the important things we need to tell them. In 2018, 4 nurses helped me interview over 200 patients and families about their fears in health care and the most important thing we can do to alleviate their fears. The patients and families were being cared for in the inpatient hospital, the Emergency Department, Surgery, and Outpatient area. Although their worries, concerns and fears varied, everyone was afraid or worried about something such as: Cost, diagnosis, prognosis, pain, infection, being kept informed and even would we be nice to them.
“Across the board in all areas though, we heard the same 3 things were important to ease their fears: Keep me informed. Keep me safe. Keep me comfortable. It is my belief that patients and families need to FEEL safe and FEEL comfortable in order to hear the information that we are sharing with them.“
What are the most important human experience initiatives that you are proud of? Why? What did you achieved?
I am most proud of my research and the book I have written. It is my hope that the book will help the health care team recognize that patients and families are afraid. Fear impacts your physical state (heart rate, blood pressure) which can interfere with your assessment of their health. In addition, as already addressed, it impacts their ability to hear the information you are telling them. Lastly, when people are afraid, they often demonstrate it with anger. Under anger often sits fear. We are wired for fight or flight when someone is angry. What if instead of pushing back or fleeing, we stop, take a deep breath and try to find out what they are afraid of and how we might help.
I believe all the best practices that are so well documented about how we introduce ourselves and what we plan to do, giving handoffs at the bedside involving the patient, checking on them frequently truly do make a difference.
The key to effective implementation is to connect to the caregivers heart, to assure they understand the WHY! If we can teach people to see the “snake on the patient and family members head” then the tactics or initiatives become a part of their practice.
believe words matter and the delivery of words matter. How we connect with people by sitting down, making eye contact, listening, empathizing, and using words like “We will keep you safe” “We will keep you comfortable” makes a huge difference.
I mentioned sitting down to make a connection. When you are standing and the patient is sitting, it feels like they are being spoken to instead of connecting. If you want them to feel safe asking questions, please sit. Listening is key. So often we do not let people finish what they are saying before we jump in to interrupt. Stephen Covey says, “Listen with the intent to understand instead of the intent to respond.”
There are also times when the health care team is afraid and they need the same things. When you start a new job, get a new boss, or are undergoing significant changes you may experience that fear or anxiety similar to having a snake on your head. In those times, the team needs information and to feel safe and comfortable so that they can hear the information. I address this in my book as well. The way we onboard new team members is so important. I have also done jumpstarts or transition workshops to help the team and new leader get to know each other faster. Once the team feels safe and comfortable, outcomes for patients and families improve.
What are the biggest challenges that you face with in your career?