- Delineates three important first principles of therapeutic relationships.
- Describes the powerful “why” building therapeutic relationships is important
- Provides comprehensive competencies required to build and engage in intentional therapeutic relationships with patients and colleagues
- Summarizes how health care is set up to de-value relationships and how we can overcome those obstacles.
- Presents the how-to for creating a culture of wellness and self-care in challenging healthcare environments
- Includes reflective questions and activities in each chapter to reinforce key concepts
This book presents a compelling case for putting care at the center of health care. It powerfully makes the case for strong therapeutic relationships as a way to create reciprocity in health care relationships, interacting thoughtfully with patients, and building our capacity to do so. Strong relationships greatly reduce clinical burnout and enhance patient care, patient safety, and patient outcomes. This book establishes first principals for caring relationships and then provides a blueprint for building intentional therapeutic relationships which must be grounded in a culture of wellness with a strong emphasis on self-care.
By pivoting our attention to truly being present and attentive to our relationships, we protect ourselves and harvest more meaning from our clinical encounters. This is not an invitation for yet another task for the over-deployed clinician, rather it is laying a stake in the ground as to why we choose to work with patients in the first place. This book presents a much needed clarion call to students, healthcare leaders, and healthcare clinicians to create more satisfaction for those who work in health care and those that receive that care.
From the Foreword
The authors believe that at the core of being a health professional is centering around healing therapeutic relationships. In this book you will explore this idea and how it could apply to you, whether just beginning your education, during training, or as an experienced practitioner. The authors outline a model of how intentional therapeutic relationships create better outcomes for patients and providers alike. They outline a competency model to guide educators, learners and practitioners towards specific practices to cultivate a much more satisfying professional life and partnership.
…Most important, read this book as a human being. Think about a time perhaps before you were a health professional. You are just a child, a parent, a son, a daughter, a friend. You are in the exam room or the ER bay, waiting. Waiting for the door, the curtain to open. You are listening for the footsteps, the pause before. Think about what you want and need when the curtain slides, that door opens. Who is there? Who has showed up? Are they rushed? Are they harried? Are they distracted or even curt? Or are they really there, truly present? Listening intently? Offering information and support in the moments we never forget?
In that moment, what you are looking for is what all patients are looking for. When you are your fullest, your best self as a health professional, that is what you are delivering. And in that moment, you are both healing…and being healed.
Susan B. Hassmiller RN, PhD, FAAN
Senior Advisor for Nursing, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Lewis G. Sandy, MD, FACP
Executive Vice President, Clinical Advancement, UnitedHealth Group
