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Last Modified 07/22/04

CARE Connection - July 2009

Fall New Assessor Training Scheduled for Wednesday, September 16 in Goodland.

New CARE Manuals and handouts have been delivered to all area nursing facilities.  If you still need to receive one, please let us know!

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Winning friends...influencing people - sounds simple enough...but how many of us are able to make all of our clients feel like our long-lost friends and expertly persuade them to cooperate as we wish?

Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, was first published in the 1930's.  It presents a lot of seemingly simple principles to help us achieve the ultimate goal of a happy, cooperative client.

Building relationships and motivating others are important components of a successful CARE assessment, although on the surface it may seem like "just more paperwork."  The following bold statements are Mr. Carnegie's principles and the subsequent comments relate each principle to the CARE process.

Don't criticize, condemn or complain.

Clients may become defensive and resentful when subjected to criticism.  Positive reinforcement works better.  This is particularly relevant to the cognition section of the CARE assessment.

Give honest and sincere appreciation.

Thank the client for meeting with you.  Make them feel important!  Emerson said:  "Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him."  Our clients are amazing resources - let's learn from the experiences they share to improve the future! 

Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Henry Ford said, "If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own."

There are many times when the participants in the CARE assessment do not fully understand why more paperwork is required and simply want it to be over with.  If we educate the clients about why we are completing the assessment and how we are working to shape the future they will understand that they are working toward something bigger than themselves and will be more likely to cooperate.  We are not trying to be manipulative; just making the benefits for both parties visible.

Become genuinely interested in other people.

Remembering the seemingly little details, like a client's recent trip, family reunion or birthday, helps you build rapport with your client.  Talking about nonthreatening topics that are not exactly addressed on the assessment can make your client calmer and less "on guard" about the paperwork.  You can fill in gaps when making a decision that's not entirely "black and white."  The details are especially helpful when coding the ADLs and IADLs.  There is often a fine line between a 2 or 3; the little details will help you make the distinction.

Smile.

Think about how it makes you feel to have your dog greet you when you get home with his tail wagging.  Tail wagging is one common way dogs "smile" and show us that they are happy to be around us.  Human smiles act the same way.

Abraham Lincoln once said "most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."  This seems particularly true for our customers!  Once they make up their minds that they are going to the nursing facility, and are going to have to make the best of the "undesirable" situation their attitude improves greatly.  

Enthusiasm and smiling are contagious in even the most upsetting situations.  You can hear it in your voice when you smile, which is particularly helpful for a low vision client or for interactions over the telephone.

Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.

Simply stated:  use names whenever possible.  Names transform the assessment from a piece of paper to an interview where both the customer and the CARE assessor are important.  It takes a little effort to remember names, but the client and family will respond much better if you do! 

Be a good listener.  Encourage others to talk about themselves.

Many times we can come to a great solution to our problems simply by talking it out.  It may take very little input from you to help a client realize the safest place for them to reside may really be a nursing facility (because they had tried home health, 24 hour care, housekeeping, meals on wheels, etc) but may not want to hear that fact from anyone else.  Letting them come to the decision themselves will help them be more accepting of the outcome.

Talk in terms of the other person's interests.

It may be helpful to relate a prior hobby to the client's current situation.  "I know you used to bake the best cherry pies - do you still do that?" may lead to the customer describing why they still do or do not participate in the hobby.  It would be helpful with coding meal preparation, eating and/or shopping to listen to the customer's comments, which may include "I don't get out much"  (follow up question may be "why is that?"), "It's too much trouble to shop - getting in and out of the car/store just takes it out of me!" "I can't walk that far!  The cherries are in the back of the store!"  Who knows...you might learn something along the way!

Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

People want to be appreciated and feel importance in life.  Praise their strengths and they will be more likely to agree with you.  The praise can be as simple as "Wow!  Your hair looks great!" and will make the person feel wonderful all day!

Many of our clients have absolutely no desire to enter a nursing facility, no matter how much they know it is in their best interest.  When we "sell" the CARE assessment, we are really just looking for a little cooperation from our client.

Look for tips about gaining the client's cooperation in the October edition of the Care Connection.