184-186 article

From the artillel I read, listening is the core of communication in health care, but largely ignored in research and teaching. This paper presents a different perspective on listening in the context of health care and its implications for goal-directed communications. Listening assets are examined from several angles (listening patient, hearing health professional, and listening self) and illustrated by relevant research results.

Listening is a multidimensional concept and serves various purposes in health care. To fully benefit from that potential, patient listening and healthcare attitudes and skills need to be improved through interventions at the policy, practice and research level. The results of studies that evaluate creative and innovative ways to strengthen people's listening skills are very encouraging. Listening has an underutilized potential that can be driven by interventions directed at the level of health policy, practice and research.