Active listening is an essential part of building strong relationships with patients. As a striving to be physiotherapist, active listening provides superior communication between the health professional and client. Using Active listening techniques will improve my workplace productivity, and develop better relationships with peers and patients.
For my future health profession, clients will express their health concerns. It is important that I analyse and repeat back what is understood from that discussion, furthermore indicating that I am an active listener. Paraphrasing and reinterpreting the message are two significant communication skills in active listening that will help reassure the patient that I have paid attention and understood the problem.
Active Listening is a communication skill that will allow for me as a health professional to earn the trust from patients and can improve my understanding of the clients injury or health concern. Active listening skills will benefit my relationship with the patient as it promotes positive interactions and clear communication.
In the online article Active Listening: The key of successful communication in hospital mangers, it is revealed that listening is one of the most important skills to have when communicating as a health professional. When becoming a physiotherapist, this skill is vital as it has a major impact on job effectiveness, and on the quality of relationship with others. Access the online article via: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4844478/
Jahromi, V. K., Tabatabaee, S. S., Abdar, Z. E., & Rajabi, M. (2016). Active listening: The key of successful communication in hospital managers. Electronic physician, 8(3), 2123.
As a result of learning about active listening, I’ll be making the conscious effort to hear not only the words that the client is saying, but, more importantly, try to understand the complete message being sent so I can diagnose the health issue and help improve the quality of health for the individual.
Below is a short video on how to improve listening skills and discusses how to hear the whole message by using active listening techniques.
Communication in Physiotherapy 