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We know patients prefer being looked after by health professionals with empathy – in simple terms the ability to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. But it’s not just a “nice to have”;  there’s growing evidence that empathy is also linked to better clinical outcomes. So what is the latest evidence about empathy in healthcare? Can anyone learn to be empathic – and if so, how can we train the doctors of the future to be more empathic? Are empathic health professionals more – or less -  likely to burnout?
Guest: Dr Andy Ward,  an academic GP and Associate Professor in Medical Education at Leicester Medical School. Andy has been leading communication skills teaching at Leicester for 16 years, and is a senior member of the newly launched Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare.  
Presenter: Prof Graham Easton

Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare: https://le.ac.uk/empathy 

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This episode is all about communicating about risks and statistics, [first broadcast during the Covid pandemic]. When you’re talking to patients – in the consulting room, on the phone, or perhaps even on the radio or TV - how do you explain the sensitivity and specificity of a test, confidence intervals, or the benefits and risks of taking the Covid vaccine? Should we use analogies, and what about relative versus absolute risk? Our expert guest offers practical tips.

[First broadcast April 10th, 2021]

With guest statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter,  Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, who appeared regularly in the media and advising the government throughout the pandemic 

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How has the GP consultation changed during the turmoil of Covid - and what might it look like in the future for GPs and their patients? Where will the balance lie between remote and face-to-face consultations, and is there a danger of general practice becoming call centre medicine? Whether remote or not, how can GPs stay patient-centred in the modern time-strapped consultation?  With guest Dr Roger Neighbour, consultation expert and former president of Royal College of GPs.

[First broadcast January 19th, 2021]

Presenter: Prof Graham Easton

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In this episode we explore how to have helpful and effective conversations with people who are hesitant to take a Covid vaccine [or any other vaccine]. We focus on Motivational Interviewing - a hugely influential and evidence-based counselling approach that health professionals use to help people change unhelpful behaviours.  

[First broadcast January 14th, 2021]

Guests: Stephen Rollnick - a clinical psychologist and Honorary Distinguished Professor in the School of Medicine in Cardiff University, Wales, UK. Prof Rollnick has long been interested in the issue of vaccine hesitancy. He was also a co-developer of motivational interviewing. His daughter, Maya Rollnick [a medical student], also contributes.

Presenter: Prof Graham Easton 

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When Covid ambushed our lives back in March 2020, hundreds – even thousands – of medical, dental and physician associate students volunteered to support the National Health Service in whatever way they could. For most this was in at the very deep end –new skills and new responsibilities - but on top of that, the extra human burdens of being a health worker in a pandemic. All the guests in this episode were involved in setting up an exciting and innovative programme to support these students at Barts and The London Medical School, called Connecting Practice. It was designed to promote students’ wellbeing and minimise the emotional impact of the work they were doing.  

[First broadcast November 23rd, 2020]

Guests: Lucy Marks (independent consultant Psychologist); Megan Annetts (medical student and former BLSA president); Benjamin Koetsier (Medical student and participant in CP); Harvey Wells (lecturer in Clinical Communication)

Presenter: Prof Graham Easton

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Two experienced surgeons discuss their experiences of racial micro-aggressions in the clinical setting, offering practical tips to current students and medics on how to manage similar challenges they may face today. 

[First broadcast August 18th, 2020]

Guests: Mr Damiete Harry [higher specialist urological surgeon trainee] and Dr Arunthathi Mahendran [transplant surgeon and academic]. 

Guest Presenter Dr Riya George.

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This episode looks at communicating with patients and their relatives in critical care during the Covid pandemic – and particularly the challenges of breaking bad news.  All three guests are part of a team in Adult Critical Care at The Royal London Hospital who - like many units around the globe - had to come up with new ways of communicating remotely with relatives during the crisis, and which have left a lasting legacy on communicating post-pandemic.

[First broadcast June 1st, 2020]

Guests: Dr Lynne Barrass is a Consultant in Critical Care Medicine; Dr Polly Fitch is a clinical psychologist; and Dr Amina Daou is a Foundation Year 1 doctor (when she started helping the unit he was a medical student).

Presenter: Prof Graham Easton

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In this episode our focus shifts to the communication aspects of remote consulting – particularly video consulting in primary care – which suddenly became crucial as a result of the social distancing introduced during the Covid-19 crisis.

[First broadcast May 11th, 2020]

Guests: Brian McKinstry, a general practitioner and Professor of Primary Care eHealth at the University of Edinburgh; Anita Berlin, an inner city GP and Professor of Primary Care Education at Barts and The London Medical School; and Robin Browne who’s a professional actor, teacher and one half of a communications skills partnership working with teaching hospitals and primary care professionals. 

Presenter: Prof Graham Easton  

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This episode focuses on some of the communication challenges that faced health professionals on the frontline of the COVID crisis. In particular how they managed to communicate effectively within critical care teams, and also between teams – whether locally or even globally, as health professionals learned how to cope with this devastating disease. How did working in PPE affect communication? How were critical care teams round the world sharing their experiences and learning during the pandemic?

[First broadcast April 30th, 2020]

Guests: Dr Jonathan Aron is a consultant on the General Intensive Care Unit at St George’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London.  Chris Ryan who is a highly experienced intensive care nurse leading one of the surge units at St George’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London. 

Presenter: Prof Graham Easton

Guest Presenter: Harvey Wells, senior lecturer in clinical communication skills