Indeed, it is, empathy is the ability to put yourself in another person's shoes, in such a way that you can understand how they feel at that moment or why they have performed a certain behavior.
It is the mental and emotional identification of a subject with the mood of another.
In empathy it is common for people to understand the expressions of other people's feelings, but this does not imply that a process of empathy occurs. For this to happen, you must identify these foreign emotions and also perceive them as your own.
Empathy is a necessary attitude to be able to develop effective social skills, since it allows you to understand the interlocutor and provide appropriate feedback.
In the healthcare field, empathy takes on special importance, since many of its users are in a state of discomfort or uncertainty. Being empathetic in these cases is essential for the communication process to be effective.
How can I have effective communication?
Communication between health professionals and patients is a first-rate health tool, since it directly affects the efficiency of the interventions of health professionals. Effective communication:
- Improves patient and professional satisfaction.
- Improves adherence to treatment.
- Reduces anxiety and depression in the patient.
- Facilitates the resolution of symptoms.
- Reduces the risk of an adverse event.
- Reduces the request for diagnostic tests.
- Reduces the number of claims and complaints.
- Improves final health results.
In order to help develop effective communication, we should take the following into account:
- Be clear about the objectives of the communicative act: Establish and maintain the relationship with the patient, respond to their emotions, obtain and share information, explain and plan, make decisions and implement them.
- Teamwork: Design a teamwork strategy when informing the patient and family. All professionals involved must actively participate, contributing what is relevant to achieve excellence in the therapeutic relationship.
- Knowledge: Acquire knowledge related to the elements involved in the communication process. And these are:
- Cognitive elements: These are the thoughts we have while the communication process is carried out.
- Physiological elements: These are the reactions of our body when we communicate.
- Verbal behaviors: It is the content of what we say and type of language used.
- Non-verbal behaviors: Those in which words do not intervene, such as smiling or looking.
- Paraverbal behaviors: It is the way of saying things, including the volume of the voice, the speed of speaking, intonation, etc.
4. Skills: Acquire and use social skills, such as:
Assertiveness, especially to highlight the most important thing in the message.
Self-control techniques to improve relaxation in difficult communicative contexts.
5. Active listening, paying attention not only to what is said but also to how it is said, observing non-verbal and paraverbal elements; demonstrate interest in what we are told, making affirmative head movements, using affirmative words, paraphrasing, summarizing and confirming statements.
- Situations of special complexity: Additional communication skills and elements must be incorporated in situations of special complexity such as:
- Give bad news, face agony and death.
- Manage emotions (stress, fear, anger, aggression)
- Communicate with people with special characteristics.
Reflect
Have you ever heard or uttered the expression “put yourself in my shoes” or “I wouldn't want to be in their shoes”? How did you feel when you did it? Surely you imagined being in someone else's place, how they must feel and the situation around them. This action (even without you possibly knowing it) is an exercise in empathy.
Find out all the details at the International Mediation School.
