A patient’s feeling of comfort and trust is increased when you demonstrate you appreciate your team.

Showing appreciation to your team in front of patients demonstrates you respect the people who support you in serving patients. This only raises their opinion of your quality of care.

• When patients witness you calmly moving through moments of stress with instructions to your team delivered in a calm tone, a smile, and thanks, it speaks volumes to patients who are eager to have confidence in their care.
• When you spend time informing team members well and empowering them with knowledge of “the why” of your diagnoses and treatment plans, they naturally and appropriately prepare patients for your case presentation, answer questions, and encourage patients to move forward. Expressed gratitude for this support is a positive affirmation that creates growing team confidence, competence and job satisfaction. And this fosters a happy work environment and employee retention. Patients are highly attuned to team happiness and are relaxed among your loyal team members they have come to know. Again, this increases trust.
• A team’s feeling of appreciation will be undermined, and individuals easily become stressed when they are chronically overworked or asked to perform tasks they are not well prepared to do. Be alert to lead them through stress with assurances and demonstration that you care enough to take measures that will restore work balance and comfort.

There are multiple situational stresses that occur every day in your practice that produce the flow of stress hormones, 112 of them to be exact. And when there are stress hormones building up in the bloodstream, the physiological and psychological consequences are noticeable to patients. Fortunately, PankeyGram readers and participants in Pankey Institute courses and study clubs receive a constant flow of fine examples of colleagues showing appreciation for their teams. Showing gratitude doesn’t always have to be done in a big way or at great expense. A positive spoken affirmation in any given moment is going to release some oxytocin. And that’s what we want!