Empathy in Action: Strengthening the Patient-Provider Connection

Dr Tara Harding presents practical ways to help healthcare providers create a compassionate space by truly listening to patients and validating their experiences. Many patients feel unheard, leading to delayed diagnoses or worsening conditions, often without providers realizing it. By focusing on empathy, trust, and clear communication, we’ll explore simple strategies to make patients feel cared for, understood, and empowered. Together, we can strengthen the patient-provider connection and provide care that truly makes a difference.

It's normal. It doesn't need medical management. That's what eight out of ten women heard from their healthcare provider when they voiced concerning symptoms.

Hi, I'm Dr. Tara Harding. I'm an infertility patient advocate and a healthcare provider, and today I'm going to share with you some tips and ways that you can better enhance your patient's healthcare experience. I'm going to teach you how you can create a compassionate space for your patient in the healthcare setting, help you validate their feelings, their symptoms, and their concerns, which will allow them to open up more and share more with you and feel heard.

It's also going to help lead them to receiving a diagnosis much sooner. Many women are intimidated of the healthcare setting, and this leads to them holding back, and in turn, this leads to them not receiving the appropriate diagnoses and timing for healthcare. We're going to focus on empathy, trust, compassion, and ways you can bring that into your healthcare setting with every single conversation that you have with that patient.

We're going to learn how you can avoid, unintentionally, medical gaslighting. This is a big term, new term. Maybe you don't even know what it is.

Maybe you don't even know that it's happening, but it's being talked about, so I'm excited to share more about what that is and ways you can avoid that. Let's begin. Number one, what is medical gaslighting? This is simply when a patient feels dismissed, that their symptoms were not further investigated, that their symptoms weren't taken serious.

It often affects women, minorities, and those that have chronic, complex health issues. There were some recent surveys and research done on medical gaslighting. I think you'll be alarmed to hear what I'm about to say.

Women are four times more likely to be referred to mental health providers for physical symptoms than men. Women receive the diagnosis of cancer four years later than men. Women receive 25% fewer pain medications in the hospital setting than men.

These are alarming, and that is why we're having this conversation today. Let's talk about building trust with your patients. What does that look like? Active listening, being engaged in the conversation.

These may sound very basic. I know how common it is in the healthcare setting to be rushed and have a lot on your load as a healthcare provider, which sometimes gets put back on your time with that patient. You don't have a lot of time with them sometimes, but there's simple things you can do, such as being actively engaged in the conversation.

I know those computers are right there, and it's so easy to be distracted by them, but by simply engaging that conversation, validating, asking how they are, is some very simple things that you can do to be engaged in that conversation. Being open about uncertain diagnoses, being honest with them. What is the actual statistics that we have nowadays on their treatment? Being open about them and what they're about to face is very important.

We want to have those open conversations even if they're hard for us to hear. Incorporating shared decision-making. Having that patient, that couple, be actively engaged in the decisions that are about to be made about their healthcare.

Remember, patients are with their bodies 24-7. We as healthcare providers are with them a very brief time. They know what's normal and not normal for them.

Present all options clearly and allow them and invite them to express their concerns, express how they're feeling. When my patients are done at the end of their appointment, I ask, how do you feel about this? How do you feel about these decisions we made today moving forward? Ask about their preferences. Ask if they have any concerns.

If they have a partner with them, ask that individual the exact same questions because they are shared decision-makers as a family or as a couple as well. Explain risks, benefits, and be open to alternative treatments. Grow that team.

There's one thing I preach all the time is allow that patient to have a team. Ask about the decisions being made outside of your office with other members of their healthcare team. Allow them to express their goals and their values when making decisions as well.

This allows for the best outcome for their plan of care moving forward. Let's talk about some education and communication strategies. This might sound easy enough again but make sure that the terminology that you're using is easy to understand or perhaps your clinic can offer a resource that after that visit that patient can look back to and understand some terminology that they might have just heard for the first time.

Explain the diagnoses and outcomes again very clearly. I love sending care summaries or handouts with my patient afterwards to help with that as well. Ask the patient to repeat what you just went over.

I find that when the patient says it out loud themselves, they have a better understanding walking out that door. Give them pamphlets. Give them websites.

Give them social media accounts. Social media is here to stay and it's so important especially in the to bring forward. Hey, what have you seen out there on social media? What have you heard? And share that in that decision making process as well.

Perhaps there's some accounts that you like yourself or you feel are very valid resources for their journey. Provide them with that as a resource in their aftercare summary. There's a lot of learning modules, coaches.

Provide them with some additional people and resources to help understand what they're going through because again, I know how fast that time goes with them. Grow that team and give them some additional resources and support outside of your visit. Thank you for listening.

Make sure to tune into part two to learn more.

Let's talk about some bias in healthcare. It's so hard to avoid this at times, but let's have a conversation about it. Acknowledging that there's some subconscious bias that might be happening in us as healthcare providers.

We may not, as an individual, fully understand or believe some things that that patient is bringing forward that they might be doing as part of their healthcare team. That's okay. Understanding and acknowledging that is the first step, and just making sure that that patient has a full understanding of what you're doing in your office is so important, and ensuring that they understand who the members of their healthcare team are is also something you can do just to simply acknowledge.

I understand you have a healthcare team outside of the office. Share more with me about that. Ask about who they are, and encourage an open dialogue about who those members of their team are, even if you have some subconscious bias about it.

I think just understanding that this could happen is step number one and so important, and sometimes it's hard to avoid, but I think just being aware before you speak is just a powerful, powerful piece of advice. Let's talk about second opinions and referring care outside of your office. That can be hard sometimes, but understanding that patients deserve that and that they maybe even have that as part of their team is step number one.

Establish some clear guidelines inside of your clinic of what are some resources that you could add. See this as an opportunity. What are some areas that you could add to your office that perhaps patients are seeking outside? Could you bring in a coach? Could you bring in a nurse educator? Could you bring in mental health services instead of referring them out? But we have to understand that sometimes patients need access to those services fast and right away.

Please don't hesitate to refer. Encourage second opinions. They're very powerful and they allow patients to get some outside opinions and then come back and make a better decision on your steps that you talked about moving forward.

Build a network of other trusted health care providers. Who are those other providers and other areas or specialties that you don't have or that you are not able to perform that you trust? Build that into your patient handouts, your websites, your aftercare summaries, and give them those individuals information so that moving forward they have that in their hands and they can make a decision after your appointment with them. Provide support group options for them.

Who are those trusted individuals and partners that can provide much needed resources for them that again you may not be able to provide for them? There's so many wonderful amazing providers out there doing great work in this space. Encourage questions. Allow time space for that patient and couple to ask absolutely any question.

I always tell my patients there's nothing silly, goofy, that you're going to ask me here. Know that you are in a safe space right now and in this safe space I'm here to allow you to ask me anything and share anything with me in this time. Let's talk about how you can leverage technology and social media.

I know, I know, I know it's not fun. It's uncomfortable. Perhaps you think it's not something you've even dipped your toes in, but it's here to stay and it's growing and it's exciting because that's where the patients are at.

They are on the social media platforms, the support groups, the Facebooks and website groups. They are there. Leverage it.

Encourage patients to even use apps. There's so many amazing apps and outside tools that can be utilized to help them better understand what they're going through or help clarify what you might have just talked about during your visit today. It can help provide additional diagnostic clarity as well.

There's so many things that can be brought into the home with technology nowadays. It's amazing tools that you can leverage to help you as well. Telemedicine.

Don't underestimate the power of telemedicine and having providers in your office utilize that as a tool. It's here to stay. I hope.

It's an amazing resource that is utilized so often by patients. I've even noticed when they are using telemedicine in their beds, in their office space, in their cars, they are much more likely to open up about things and share more with you. We have to understand that there is a lot of factual information out there on the internet nowadays.

It used to be Dr. Google. That is gone. There is a lot of healthcare providers putting out a lot of evidence-based information on all the social media outlets nowadays.

Patients love that. Please, please, please find a way to incorporate that into your healthcare planning for your patient. I want to end by thanking you for taking time for listening to this today.

What you are doing is so important in this space. Never underestimate the power of what you are doing for patients in this healthcare setting. Thank you for taking the initiative to learn more about how you can better listen and improve your patient outcomes by empathy, communication, and understanding ways and things to incorporate into your practice that will provide better outcomes for your patients.