MICROLEARNING  
📚

The Third Party
(Never Invisible)

Your patient isn't always alone. Sometimes a "plus one" is quietly watching and listening: a spouse, friend, parent, caregiver, or ride who came along too. There are several roles this person usually takes, and each one matters. This upSKILL walks through what role they play and how to recognize, acknowledge, and engage them too.
   6:34 Watch Time [Week 73 from the Weekly upSKILL series]
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 Real Help 

Solve these 'people problems'

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For upSKILLers:

  • Feeling awkward or unsure how to include the person who came with your patient, so they end up feeling invisible or disconnected
  • Getting caught off guard when the quiet "plus one" suddenly jumps in with questions, concerns, or skepticism at the very end
  • Missing how much the patient's friend, spouse, parent, or ride can influence trust, decisions, satisfaction, and whether they follow through
  • Creating smoother, easier interactions by acknowledging and engaging everyone in the room from the start
  • Wanting both your patient and their support person to feel connected, informed, and safe in the care experience

For Leaders:

  • Team members unintentionally treating a patient's support person like they're unimportant or "just there"
  • Third party guests negatively shaping patient trust, confidence, and decisions simply because they never felt acknowledged or included
  • Interactions running longer or getting harder because concerns from the patient's "plus one" surface only at the very end
  • Helping team members understand that a support person often shows up in "protector" mode and needs to earn trust too
  • Creating a more connected patient experience where everyone in the room feels welcomed, informed, and emotionally safe
  • Building a team culture that intentionally acknowledges and engages the "other person" instead of leaving them out
 Data 

It's science

Research on first impressions shows that people quickly decide whether someone feels warm, trustworthy, and safe within seconds of an interaction.(1)
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The "3rd party" is forming impressions about you and your organization just as quickly as the patient is, even if they seem quiet or disengaged.
Studies on social exclusion found that being ignored or treated as invisible activates the same emotional pain regions in the brain associated with physical pain.(2)
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When we unintentionally exclude the "other person" from the interaction, it can quietly create feelings of discomfort, distrust, or emotional disconnection.
Research on emotional safety and trust shows that people feel more comfortable, cooperative, and confident when they feel acknowledged, included, and informed.(3)
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When we intentionally engage the patient's support person, they are more likely to become an advocate for the care experience instead of a skeptical outsider.
 Note 

From The Experts

"Being kind and choosing to see the third party in our interaction not only feels good to everyone, but it helps support our relationship with the direct party involved. If you can make them feel connected, informed, and safe, then you'll put them at ease, and their role will change from protector to advocate."
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- Christine & Lauren, The Patient Whisperers
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 SERIES 

This is adapted from Weekly: Mastering Soft Skills

by The Patient Whisperers:
Soft skills that make work and life better.
For everyone who works with patients - or interacts with humans.

8 minutes each week

quick bites, by The Patient Whisperers.

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Ralph Chu, MD
CEO & Chief Medical Officer
Chu Vision Institute

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 WHO 

Meet the experts

The Patient Whisperers
Christine Scarlett
& Lauren Weaver
Former practice leaders leading change by bringing relational intelligence, soft skills + emotional connection into healthcare as authors, speakers, and upSKILL instructors. 
Get to know them here or connect on social media:
Christine Scarlett
Former CMO
& Director of Patient Experience
From counseling patients, to Director of Patient Experience, to CMO, Christine's worn nearly every 'hat' in a healthcare practice. The driving force? Her love for people... creating exceptional patient experiences and empowering those who serve them.
Lauren Weaver
Former
Director of Brand Development
Bringing her PR, branding, social media influencer status, and love of storytelling with her, Lauren turned how we market and build a brand for ourselves in healthcare upside down by redefining how we connect with our patients, both in practice and online.
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(1) Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1993). "Half a Minute: Predicting Teacher Evaluations from Thin Slices of Nonverbal Behavior." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(3), 431–441. (2) Eisenberger, N. I., Lieberman, M. D., & Williams, K. D. (2003). "Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion." Science, 302(5643), 290–292. (3) Porges, S. W. (2004). "Neuroception: A Subconscious System for Detecting Threat and Safety." Zero to Three.