Get To Know You Template

What is a Get to Know You Template?

A Get To Know You Template is a valuable activity to build rapport between individuals and their practitioners in a healthcare setting. Any professional can usually use these types of activities to break the ice. They help people get to know each other more in-depth and understand the individual outside of the context they know them in. 

The Get To Know You Template is a set of prompts that allow people to answer as much as they want to share with their practitioner, client, or group. These prompts may include:

• Personal background
• Interests
• Hobbies
• Occupations
• Educational experiences 
• Values and goals
• Additional information, such as fun facts and favorite items

This template can be utilized at any point of interaction with the client. However, we recommend using it before or within the initial session. This can help your client to feel more at ease as you discuss your answers with them. It can support the breakdown of the gap between healthcare professionals and clients that patients often feel. 

It is important to remember how much information you should share with your clients. You don’t want to forget the line of professionalism. Our Get To Know You Template is adaptable, meaning you can alter your answers or leave out prompts you find that overstep that line.

Overall, the Get To Know You Template can help set your initial interaction with your clients up for future success! 

How does it work?

The Get To Know You Template is incredibly easy to complete for you as a healthcare professional and your clients. We’ve created a step-by-step guide as to how you should complete the template.

Step One: Obtain the template

Navigate to the Carepatron Templates page for the Printable Get To Know You Template. You can download this Get To Know You Template version from here. You can electronically complete the template or download it for a printable version that you may distribute to your clients for completion.

Step Two: Complete the template

It is that simple! You can decide if this template will be beneficial for your client. Once you have obtained the template, you can fill in the prompts with as little or as much information as you think is appropriate and feel comfortable sharing.

Step Three: Discuss with your client

Once completed, you can discuss your answers with your client. This also allows them to build rapport, confidence, and understanding of you as a healthcare professional. From your perspective, you can listen and ask further questions that help the individual feel more understood.

Step Four: Store the completed template

You can do this securely on Carepatron’s safe patient portal tool. Other healthcare professionals can access this if they need to understand the client and their needs without repeating this process.

When would you use this template?

Ice breakers

A great way to implement the Get To Know You Template is to utilize it as an icebreaker tool. Getting to know someone who has never had a therapy session or recently changed doctors can be challenging. Using a Get To Know You Template can help individuals communicate their general information about themselves to new people. 

Networking events

The Get To Know You Template can also be utilized for healthcare professionals to communicate during large networking settings. This helps you share information about yourself with other healthcare professionals during an educational meeting/session that you may attend. It can help you open new doors with other practitioners. 

Employee onboarding

A great way to get to know someone new in the team can be to utilize the Get To Know You Template. Doing the usual ‘3 fun facts about yourself’ routine can be challenging. Try swapping this for the Get To Know You Template. This way, employees can complete the template and further discuss what they have written down. This allows for more time discussing their interests and lifestyle and less thinking about what to say! 

Sessions

Utilize the Get To Know You Template to build rapport with your patients. It can be beneficial for people undertaking group therapy sessions.

What do the results mean?

There are no specific results we look for when the Free Get To Know You Template is completed. Instead, we can explore what could be achieved when the template is utilized during healthcare sessions. 

Understanding

The Get To Know You Template can help individuals create a sense of understanding for the client and the healthcare professional. The shared information prompted by the template can support individuals in understanding where the other person has come from and their goals. 

Building Rapport

The Get To Know You Template fosters a discussion between the patient and practitioner about themselves. Often, there is a gap between the client and the professional that people need help overcoming. Utilizing a Get To Know You Template can help individuals feel supported through their journey.

Rapport is necessary during general practitioner appointments and especially therapy sessions. Individuals may feel more inclined to share information when they have built this relationship and connection with their healthcare practitioner. 

Confidence

This template can also foster a significant amount of confidence in the client. Once understanding and rapport have been ingrained within the client and their healthcare practitioner, they may feel confident in their caring ability. With a relationship that has been built, individuals may be more likely to think that the care they are experiencing is working for them.

Research & evidence

A study by Kilanowski (2012) focused on the benefits of utilizing icebreaker activities as a pre-intervention strategy to support the participation of research participants. They found that “ice breakers” can be an effective method for undertaking research within a group setting.

Additionally, they suggest that these types of activities, such as the Get To Know You Template, help individuals become more acquainted with each other and that it also helps the leader understand their participants and form new bonds.

Various benefits have been highlighted when using icebreaker activities such as Get To Know You Templates and other initial contact templates. According to Indeed, communication templates work because they improve:

• Listening techniques
• Communication skills
• Effective feedback skills

According to Lussier and Richard (2007), self-disclosure has many benefits from the professional to the patient. Overall, it can benefit the therapeutic relationship majorly. They suggest that it can benefit the experience by:

• Improving patient support
• Enhancing a sense of closeness
• Help patients reveal distress

References 

Icebreakers to Improve Team Communication [Updated for 2021]. (n.d.). Www.indeed.com. https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/icebreakers-for-communication

Kilanowski, J. F. (2012). Breaking the Ice: A Pre-intervention Strategy to Engage Research Participants. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 26(3), 209–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2012.01.001

Lussier, M.-T., & Richard, C. (2007). Self-disclosure during medical encounters. Canadian Family Physician, 53(3), 421–422. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1949073/