Customer Experience Consultant in Nursing Homes: Successful communication with families

The customer experience in EHPAD (Residential Establishment for Dependent Elderly People) is a crucial issue, both for the satisfaction of residents and their families. Intervening in this field requires a detailed understanding of emotional and practical expectations, but also a certain ability to navigate between differences in perception. This text explores with humor and detail the clumsiness to avoid, while proposing solutions to transform these moments of embarrassment into opportunities for improvement.

The challenges of communication in nursing homes

Residents' families play a central role in the perception of the quality of services. Their satisfaction is based on three essential pillars: transparency, listening and personalization. But while these words sound good in a PowerPoint presentation, applying them to everyday life reveals the complexity of human interactions. All it takes is a poorly transmitted piece of information, an oversight or a clumsy sentence to transform a worried family into a storm that is difficult to manage.

Let's take a classic example: a resident falls a little in his room. No serious consequences, fortunately. But the staff forgot to notify the family the same day, thinking that there would always be time to talk about it the next time they called. When the relatives finally call to get news and they learn of the episode, the reaction is often the same: "But why didn't anyone warn us right away?!". What could have been a well-managed minor incident becomes a source of mistrust.

Another situation, just as classic and yet easy to avoid. One family reported that their loved one's meals were often cold. The remark is noted but falls into an administrative black hole. A few weeks later, the family came back to the charge, annoyed by the silence. What she feels is not only frustration with the quality of the meals, but a sense of contempt for her worries.

And what about generic newsletters sent with the best of intentions, but which give the impression of having been written by a robot? "Here is the program of activities for the month of June..." Whereas what really interests families is to know if their loved one has participated in these famous activities. A little personal touch can make all the difference.

Finally, social networks are a minefield for nursing homes. Let's imagine a photo published on the establishment's Facebook page, showing the residents on a festive day. Nice intention... except that Mr. Dupont's family, sitting in the front row, had not given their consent. Can you hear that siren? It is that of a complaint that arrives.

Gentle violence: banal gestures, profound impacts

In the daily life of nursing homes, some actions may seem trivial but are perceived differently by the residents. We are talking about "soft violence", a concept that includes attitudes or behaviors that are not malicious but intrusive or infantilizing. This happens even more often in protected units, where some caregivers consider that residents, having advanced cognitive disorders, no longer understand words or situations. This perception is not only wrong, but can also be a source of suffering.

Imagine a caregiver who, in front of other patients or even worse, in front of their families, says: "Mr. Martin is completely losing his mind, he doesn't know what he's doing anymore". This comment, even if it is not ill-intentioned, reduces the resident to his pathology and deprives him of his dignity. These words, heard by the families, create a deep malaise and destroy the professional image of the establishment.

Another scene: a caregiver makes a humorous remark about the disorientation of a resident. "Ah, Mrs. Smith, still lost in the corridors! Looking for the kitchen or the moon today? ». This type of joke, although light, can be perceived as a lack of respect and affect the image that the family has of the attention paid to their loved one.

These clumsiness, whether verbal or behavioural, often reveal a lack of awareness or a trivialisation of the condition of residents in protected units. Yet, even in cases of advanced cognitive impairment, residents remain sensitive to the tone, attitude, and intentions of those around them.

The solution? In-depth awareness-raising work with caregivers to make them understand that words have weight, even when they seem innocuous. Respecting the person, regardless of the progression of their disease, is a fundamental requirement. The implementation of regular training on "soft violence" and its impacts, accompanied by discussions around concrete situations, can transform practices.

Privacy: A Delicate Balance

Respect for confidentiality is a central issue in nursing homes, both between caregiver and resident, but also between caregiver and family. It is not uncommon for relatives to ask for detailed information about their relative's health status, but not everything can be shared without the resident's explicit consent.

Imagine a worried girl who calls to find out why her mother is no longer eating. The caregiver must then juggle between the obligation of confidentiality and the need to ease the anxiety. A good practice is to encourage a direct discussion between the resident and his or her family, accompanied if necessary by a member of staff. If the resident is unable to give consent, then it is up to the medical team to assess what can be shared.

On the family side, sharing personal information about other residents (such as roommates) is a red line that should never be crossed. A comment along the lines of "Your dad shares his room with a very old gentleman who is having a lot of trouble" is not only a clumsiness, but a serious breach of confidentiality.

To build trust, nursing homes need to train their staff on these sensitive issues and clearly communicate to families the limitations imposed by the regulations.

Conclusion

Communication with families in nursing homes is a subtle dance, where every step counts. One wrong move can break trust, but a thoughtful gesture can change everything. It is obvious that a customer experience consultant will never be able to carry out a mission in a nursing home or a protected unit, because he or she will not be able to live anonymously and experience the same thing as the resident or the families experience. Nevertheless, the situations described above are real cases and daily blunders that can tarnish the relationship of trust between a family and a nursing home.