Many think that effective patient communication is about brilliant scripting or being prepared to answer virtually any question. Not true.
What effective communicators know and practice, is profound listening. Which is the essential first ingredient of all successful communication. Poor listeners are always poor communicators. Perhaps this is due to the confusion between hearing and listening.
Hearing is a neuro-mechanical process. Listening is a social skill.
Like most social skills, they are learned. Begin by being mindful that in virtually all social interaction there are many "channels" in which information and meaning is being delivered. If you merely hear, you can be tone deaf to the subtext encoded in the message. This is especially true if you already have your answer ready before the conversation begins!
Listen. Receive. Understand, as in "to stand under." Support patients by standing under them and they will feel truly felt--without even being touched.
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