Building a Foundation of Trust in Patients With MPNs
Oncology nurses and APPs should prioritize active listening and deeper patient engagement to build trusting, long-term relationships with patients with MPNs.
For oncology nurses and APPs caring for patients with chronic conditions like MPNs, fostering a comfortable environment begins with active listening that extends beyond clinical data, an expert said.
Understanding the patient's life outside the exam room—their sources of joy and their personal challenges—is essential for providing holistic care. Given the nature of MPNs, these providers often develop long-term relationships with patients, sometimes seeing them more frequently than they see their own families. Therefore, prioritizing the establishment of trusting relationships through deeper patient engagement is paramount for optimizing care and support throughout the patient's journey.
Oncology Nursing News’ sister publication, CURE, spoke with Kathryn Johnson, DNP, MSc, FNP-BC, at the in-person MPN Heroes event to learn more about how connections like these can really benefit patients with MPNs.
Johnson is a Clinical Program Manager at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York.
Transcript:
I think the best thing to do to help people feel at ease is to listen, not just superficial listening, but really active listening. I love to learn about my patients and who they are outside of the exam room, because when they come to us, it's such a small part of their lives. Understanding what brings them joy, what struggles they're having beyond what their blood counts show, is so important to helping making sure that we're doing holistic care for our patients.
MPNs are chronic disorders, which means that we actually get to establish really lovely, long-term relationships with our patients. I have patients that I've seen over the last 5 years once or twice a month, which is more often than I even get to see my own family in Virginia. So, I think making sure, again, that we're building those long-term relationships with a good foundation of trust by getting to know the patients on a deeper level, is really important.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
