Physicians enable patient-centred therapeutic communication through shared decision-making and effective dynamic interactions with patients, families, caregivers, other professionals, and other relevant individuals. The competencies of this role are essential for establishing rapport and trust, formulating a diagnosis, delivering information, striving for mutual understanding, and facilitating a shared plan of care. Poor communication can lead to undesired outcomes, and effective communication is critical for optimal patient outcomes. The application of these communication competencies and the nature of the patient-physician relationship vary for different specialties and forms of medical practice.
To provide care that is high quality, physicians establish an effective relationship with patients and other health care professionals. To establish such a relationship, it is essential that physicians possess communication skills that elicit patients’ beliefs, concerns, and expectations about their illness. There are three types of patient-related communication skills: content, process, and perceptual.
Fundamental elements of effective communication include empathy, cultural sensitivity, respect for diversity, appropriate use of verbal and nonverbal communication, flexibility, and a nonjudgmental approach.
Source: Adapted from “CanMEDS 2015 Physician Competency Framework” by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, 2015. (https://canmeds.royalcollege.ca/uploads/en/framework/CanMEDS%202015%20Framework_EN_Reduced.pdf)
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