C-O-N-T-A-C-T

Be clinically CURIOUS – adjust, CHALLENGE, CHANGE

“Curiosity killed the cat”

An old proverb designed to ward people off from investigating the dangerous, being nosy about other people’s affairs or inquisitive about things that don’t concern them. How often did your parents say this to you when you were growing up and persistently asking questions about anything and everything?

WELL, FORGET IT!

When it comes to being clinicians we need to be CURIOUS. Asking questions has driven healthcare forward to where we are today.

CLINICAL, or professional, CURIOSITY is about delving deeper to understand. When undertaking root cause analysis on acquired pressure ulcers it was common to see entries in the clinical records such as: Carers reported broken skin. Unstageable pressure ulcer noted to heel. Mattress ordered and dressing applied

Now, what’s missing here is clinical enquiry (CURIOSITY), we need to CHALLENGE the most obvious answer. Why have they developed a PU to the heel? What has happened in the last 7 to 10 days or since the last visit that may have led to it? What needs to CHANGE to prevent this getting worse or happening again.

The same lack of CLINICAL CURIOSITY was seen when a person declined a suggested prevention intervention. Let’s say this is an alternating mattress the nurse has offered them. I don’t like them I don’t want one may be what the patient responds with. The nurse documents patient refused mattress. CLINICAL CURIOSITY here would seek to understand what concerns the person has about the mattress.

If their concerns are explored and understood it might be that a solution can be found that takes this into consideration. If no solution or middle ground agreement can be found then this conversation can be documented fully.