Wouldn’t it be great if your doctor/healthcare provider Active Listened to you? Countless studies have shown that a large percentage of patients become dissatisfied with their relationships with health professionals. And the source of that dissatisfaction is seldom the technical incompetence of the health professional. 
More often it is the ineffectiveness of the communication between them. Most patients don’t feel encouraged to ask questions or talk about all that’s bothering them, and they are often unclear about what the health professional tells them. Research studies show frequent interruptions of patients and little empathy.
For the nonprofessional caregivers-spouses, families, friends–a serious illness is almost as disruptive as if they were the patient. Beginning with the onset of symptoms and the diagnosis, there is anxiety and fear of the unknown. Most people have no experience coping with the emotional changes in the patient, let alone recognizing and dealing with their own feelings. And most laypeople don’t have the necessary communication skills to help patients talk about their problems or openly express their feelings.
Certain kinds of talk can actually be therapeutic-helping people deal constructively with their negative emotions, find solutions to their problems, take control of their lives.
These “helping skills” can be particularly useful for anyone relating to patients. There is abundant research evidence showing that patients who experience effective two-way communication with their health professional are more satisfied with their treatment, less inclined to initiate a malpractice suit, recover more quickly from surgery, and more likely to comply with the physician’s treatment regime.
Nurses, social workers, hospice volunteers, and hospital chaplains are sometimes more attuned to the patient’s feelings than are physicians. However, many of them are not aware that certain often-used verbal messages can be roadblocks to patients’ communication, and that there are new and more effective ways to enhance relationships with patients.
It is possible for caregivers, both professional and nonprofessional to learn how to help the sick find peace, hope, and meaning in life regardless of the course of the physical part of the illness. Relationships with patients can become like a partnership with mutual support, respect, and trust.
Every one of us may become a caregiver at some point for a family member or a friend who is ill. Imagine if more health professionals learned the Gordon Model (*cough*….L.E.T. anyone?) and then they could empower patients to deal more constructively with their pain, their loneliness, their fears, and hopes.