Practicing "Reflective listening" is a mandatory prerequisite for empathy

Abstract

We must humbly acknowledge that the healthcare system is less and less about empathy despite interacting with patients is a prerequisite for care: shared decision making is the cornerstone for compliance to treatment and therefore its -effectiveness. Empathy is not about tricks, it is about "client-centred therapy" a term coined by Carl Rogers. The key is "reflective listening". Simply summarize what the patient said by using his own words rather than paraphrasing and without digressing to other subjects. This reinforces patients' own expressions of problems, recognition of concerns, complaints and, values and reveals potential misunderstanding of patient's concerns. New technologies can help to understand patient's experiences as a program for professionals caring for inflammatory bowel diseases: they receive on their a smartphone daily recurring messages such as "You have ten minutes to go to the toilet" and must send a photo of a lavatory door within few minutes.

Keywords: Carl Rogers; Communication; Patient-Centred; Quality of life; Reflective listening; Shared decision making; Surrogate.