How can you use active listening to understand healthcare policy more comprehensively?

Active listening means giving full attention to what your interlocutor is saying, maintaining eye contact, asking lot of questions and giving feedback. Empathising wherever needed. Agreements or disagreements are part of the process. Active listening involves sharing of perspectives, goals and visions or simply a viewpoint you're so passionate about. It's a two way active and healthy communication between two people sans judgment. Active listening often leads to better understand and favourable & productive outcomes.

I believe the best way to demonstrate active listening is not only in my body language, but by demonstrating that I am seeking to understand the speaker's perspective by confirming my understanding through repetition or application of their concept to an idea or tangible scenario.

Active listening is a powerful tool for understanding healthcare policy comprehensively. Engage attentively by paying close attention to policymakers, experts, and stakeholders when they discuss healthcare issues. Ask questions and seek clarification on complex terms and concepts, encouraging them to explain in simple, relatable terms. Try to understand the challenges and concerns of different stakeholders, putting yourself in their shoes to grasp their perspectives.

Exceptional outcomes are at the core of effective healthcare delivery. Healthcare policies are aimed at that. Most healthcare organisations work towards maximising overall patient experience and understanding the correct health policy is important. Active listening is the key here. All stakeholders in the healthcare delivery value chain: patients, payers, providers, doctors and healthcare workers must listen actively to the patient needs, experts, policy makers and other key functionaries in the ecosystem to ensure effective healthcare delivery with exceptional outcomes. I have often found active listening as an effective tool while engaging with patients and other major stakeholders, while leading various healthcare organisations.

Being open to continuous learning is the key. You can learn a lot by interacting with the experts, media, reputed publications, healthcare seminars by interacting and listening to the domain experts about their perspectives, visions and goals. Lot of learning also takes place on the job. Listening actively to your coworkers, colleagues and superiors can lead to better understanding with new insights. I have often found one on one interaction with industry experts an excellent source of knowledge with new perspectives. Sometimes interacting with students while teaching them has led me to new insights and perspectives or quest for fresh knowledge on the subject. If you keep your eyes and ears open, the whole universe is your teacher.

I recall as a past Chair for the American Public Health Association's Pharmacy Section the emphasis on interprofessional collaboration. I appreciated the opportunity to partner with other Sections, like the Vision Care, Foot and Ankle Health, and other public health groups to write joint policy on conditions where our respective professions had impact. How we were able to craft these policies were contingent on our ability to listen to each other, to share information from sources we frequent typically, and calling upon our network of experts. Joining a professional association is a great way to practice active listening!

Active listening can be demonstrated through translation of information that people (patients) are experiencing in health care in blog posts, social media posts, presentations, etc. By amplifying patient voices through active listening, this can help build your skillset in this area and also bring greater understanding to the patient experience.

Active listening builds trust and rapport between people in any kind of environment whether that be an employee/employer dynamic or a teacher/student dynamic or even a parent/child dynamic. When a speaker knows a listener is actively listening, trust is build based on the fact that speaker knows they are being heard which is a positive asset in any kind of relationship, especially in career development, where so many people feel that they are not heard.

I practice active listening in patient advocacy by surrounding myself with other patient advocates and attending sessions focused on this topic area. I also reflect on times I've experienced communication friction to think about how I can improve in the future.

Empathising is an integral part of active listening. Continuously engaging with your interlocutor by asking questions, paraphrasing or summarising what is said, seeking further clarifications enhance understanding. Active listening is also very important during cases of conflict management in organisations. Brushing aside differences never helps. They're very much part of our routine corporate life, in fact personal life as well. I have often found individuals unhappy because their voice was not heard or listened to. Giving them an opportunity to talk and listening to their concerns or suggestions often help organisations grow while reintegrating the individual back into the organisational fabric.

As an organisational strategy to give voice to the employees, I've found Town Hall meetings an effective tool. I often give out information to the employees on our vision, goals and new projects. As also areas for improvement. This keeps them aligned and engaged to the overall organisational goals. This is often accompanied by recognising individuals that have exhibited outstanding performance by eulogizing their performance through rewards and recognitions. Free flowing interactive sessions often throw up new perspectives and suggestions for the leaders to act on for organisational development and growth. Participative decision making and empowering employees are extremely important parameters that leaders must pay attention to.

Listen with intention. Empathize with the speaker and consider what is being said as being the most important thing they have ever spoken. It is important to understand what is being said on behalf of the patient you are advocating for. It is important to ask for clarity if needed and to make sure everything is clearly understood. Do not be intimidated or afraid to ask for clarity or further instruction if something is not clear or understood. It is better to err on the side of caution and ask what you might think is a "stupid question" and have no doubts.