The Art of Healthcare

Empathy is important. The research points to this, and we're told to be more empathetic.

The power of stories for teaching

The post Don’t answer feelings with facts: frameworks for responding with empathy appeared first on The Art of Healthcare.

Most of us been thinking and communicating health information for our entire adult lives. Some of us (including me) since before our brain was fully developed.

We'd like to think that we're doing a good job of conveying information to everyone else who hasn't had the depth of learning we have. I'm sure a lot of the time we do a really good job, BUT can we actually be sure?

Jasmine Marcus is a journalist turned physical therapist who still remembers living life as an adult without knowing this stuff. She couples this with her communication expertise as a journalist and joins me on the podcast this week.

We talk through

Creativity and preparation may seem to be strange bedfellows. After all one seems fluid while the other is rigid.

Tyson Franklin joins me to discuss why we need both (and how they can fit together) in order to be practicing at the top of our game.

Today we talk through

One reason for so many of our Healthcare advancements is our reductionist thinking about health. Tackling one small aspect at a time and solving it. It’s why we’ve got better at keeping people alive.

One reason that healthcare doesn't adequately address many of the health challenges facing our societies at the moment is reductionist thinking (to not be reductionist here, there are also a lot of others).

Human beings are complex systems, living within complex systems and environments. Our symptoms are (sometimes) caused by a biological response, but the drivers for that biological response are often complex and varied. Reductionist thinking hits the biological response (which is helpful) but not the drivers of the response (which is not).

Alex Murray joins me for a conversation on Complex systems theory, non specific effects, practical stuff we can do with our patients in the face of these, and the bastardisation of the concept of the Art of Healthcare.

The paradigm of (most) Healthcare professionals as the "fixer" is outdated. (Don't get me wrong I very much appreciate the surgeons who have put me back together when I've busted myself).

If we want to support healthier communities, then us as the health professional need to empower our patients to take control of their health, make the healthy choices, and live their healthy lives.

Jennifer George joins me to talk about how we can do that by entering into empowering patient partnerships.

We talk through;

Therapeutic relationships

How to create partnership

Engaging patients that are seeking for us to "fix" them

What happens when patients aren't empowered 

Flexing our empathy muscles

Why compassion, empathy, and communication are harder than a clinical skill, plus what to do about it

Why we need to believe in our patients

Personalizing Healthcare to every patient is hard work right?

Yeah it is

AND

It's only harder in when you get started, once you get used to it, it's no harder than not personalizing the care you give. Plus you get better outcomes for your patients, and enjoy yourself more. 

Dr Nick Kimber joins me for a conversation about personalizing Healthcare. For our patients and clients.

We talk;

I'd imagine most healthcare professionals view themselves as a giving person. After all, we're looking after patients day in day out. Most of us didn't get into it for the cash - although some may have.

We can just keep giving. Giving to our patients, giving to our colleagues, giving to systems that haven't been fully set up to support us. Giving can feel good, we feel like we're doing something worthwhile.

BUT if we just keep giving without question where does that lead us? We follow a career progression not of our own choosing. We give to a system that isn't designed to value us. When one patient goes another comes in to take their place and we start over. We stop giving to ourselves.

Nurse Jacqui O'Connor joins me on the podcast to talk about how we can do healthcare more authentically.

We talk through

- Burnout

- Setting our values

- Learning the tools of boundaries

 - Rubbing off on others

- Moral injury in  healthcare

- Enabling the system not to change

- Shame and guilt in healthcare

- Shaping a career path that aligns with who you are

Connecting with our patients is often the hardest part of our job as health providers.

Often the pathology is straightforward but we just can't seem to be able to communicate with the person in a way that elicits a positive change.

My mate Heather Watson reckons that to improve that connection we need to be more vulnerable. She joins us today to talk about how to build vulnerability into our practice, and our lives.

We talk through

We all got into Healthcare to help people, and we do get to help a lot of people.

AND

A challenge for a lot of Healthcare professionals is that we don't understand the value that we deliver to our patients and clients. We undervalue ourselves, and in turn are undervalued by others - which makes us grumpy.

We all need to start to understand the value that we can provide to patients. This value isn't just in a monetary sense, although it's often easiest to think about it that way.

Victor Ahipene joins us to help us understand and articulate our value whether patients pay you, or you get funded by insurers or through the public system. It's great for us, and plays a huge role in how we connect with our patients and how we can assist them to get better.

We talk through

We all got into Healthcare to help people, and we do get to help a lot of people.

Why being a "people person" isn't enough to really connect with a patient

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