Therapeutic Communication in Healthcare

Effective Therapeutic Communication Skills and Strategies

• Paraphrasing involves restating what the patient has told you to enhance understanding and build rapport.

Roadblocks to Therapeutic Communication Part I - The Healthcare Professional’s Behavior

• Certain communication behaviors can impede communication and are referred to as roadblocks to therapeutic communication.
• Providing easy reassurance can be inappropriate as it diminishes the patient's feelings and may give false hope.
• A more appropriate response is to acknowledge the patient's feelings and express support, e.g., "You know that whatever the result, you have us here and all of the staff on our healthcare team by your side."
• Minimizing the patient's feelings is a roadblock, and the HCP should instead listen attentively and show empathy.
• Approving or disapproving of the patient can create a sense of reward or penalty, which is inappropriate in a therapeutic relationship.

Additional Roadblocks to Therapeutic Communication

• Agreeing or disagreeing with the patient's ideas, feelings, and thoughts can turn the discussion into a matter of right or wrong, which is ineffective.
• Giving personal advice is inappropriate, as the HCP's role is to assist the patient with managing their healthcare needs, not to provide personal opinions.
• Prying into topics the patient does not want to discuss is inappropriate and can be antagonistic.
• Becoming defensive when a patient expresses unhappiness or dissatisfaction can break down the therapeutic communication process.
• Demanding that the patient explain their behavior can cause defensiveness and inhibit communication.
• Making commonplace, or clichéd, comments can make the patient feel unheard and neglected.