Patient Communication: Best Practices for Building Trust
Why Better Communication Leads to Better Patient Outcomes
Good communication is foundational to every good relationship. For healthcare providers, patient communication best practices are essential to building trust and rapport with your patients.
Good communication is a two-way street — and has a two-way benefit.
For providers, it’s your responsibility to make a patient comfortable and ensure they feel heard, which encourages your patients to open up and share information that can be impactful to their care. Providers also need to be intentional in explaining diagnoses, recommendations, options, and care plans in a way a patient will understand and best respond to.
On the other hand, when patients trust you, it increases the likelihood they will listen to you and your recommendations, and that they will feel safe asking questions.
Google says there’s no shortage of communication strategies for healthcare providers. So let’s focus on some best-practice tips right here to help you refine and refresh your patient communications.
Start with R-E-S-P-E-C-T: A Proven Communication Framework
Use the AMA’s patient-centered strategy to build trust and empathy
The American Medical Association (AMA) shares a comprehensive communication strategy for patient communication that would make Aretha Franklin proud. It’s based on the easy-to-remember acronym R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and can be found in its article “6 Simple Ways to Master Patient Communication.”
Each piece of the R-E-S-P-E-C-T strategy is as follows:
R: RAPPORT — To convey to patients the feeling of “we’re in this together,” listen carefully, give patients your full attention, and make good eye contact. Read on to learn more in the next section of this article: Best Practices: Non-Verbal Communication.
E: EXPLAIN — Engage patients by encouraging them to explain more about their health, habits, and lives outside of the appointment. “Tell me more about…” is a successful approach.
S: SHOW — Demonstrate collaborative thinking, especially when delivering constructive criticism. In other words, show you’re working with them rather than telling them what to do.
P: PRACTICE — Practice makes progress, even if it’s not “perfect.” Ask your patients for feedback about your communication, and leverage your team’s insights to make communication adjustments — for yourself and throughout your practice — based on their experiences with patients as well.
E: EMPATHY — Show your patients you genuinely care about them, which can be done with words as well as with non-verbal cues and body language. Additionally, take steps to be compassionate beyond the reason they’re seeing you. Consider their background, maybe this is their first surgery. Think about what else might be going on with them, like whether they are worried about missing work, if there was traffic on the way to the appointment, or if something or someone in their life is causing them stress.
C: COLLABORATION — Interact with your patients in a spirit of partnership and you’ll increase the likelihood they’ll more positively respond to what you have say. Explain as many details about your decisions and recommendations as possible so your patients feel they’re a part of their own healthcare.
T: TECHNOLOGY — Meet your patients where they are, technology-wise. Be careful not to overwhelm them with messages from too many sources. Also consider the technology you’re utilizing to ensure your communication best-practices like empathy and collaboration are still in focus.
Best Practices: Non-verbal Communication that Builds Trust
How your body language can say more than your words
Though experts range on exact percentages, we can all agree that much of our communication is actually non-verbal. For providers, it’s important to remember patients will pick up on your non-verbal cues and respond accordingly.
If you want to build trust and rapport with your patients, here are some non-verbal communication tips to keep in mind:
- EYE LEVEL: For maximum trust, speak to your patients at their eye level or below, which makes them more comfortable. When you’re positioned above a patient’s eye level it can be interpreted as condescending.
- EYE CONTACT: Making direct eye contact shows your patient they have your attention. In her book “Attention Pays,” executive coach Neen James calls eye contact “listening with your eyes.” Even if you’re listening, your patient will not believe it unless you’re looking at them.
- MIRRORING: Mirroring a patient’s body language builds trust. When they lean in, you lean in. If their facial expression shows concern, show concern with yours. If they smile, you smile. This admittedly takes practice, and it’s easy to practice this outside the office as well.
- CROSSING: Crossing arms and legs is a no-go for open communication. Crossing can make you look stand-offish, closed-off, or judgmental. You pick up the same negative cues from your patients when they cross.
- NODDING: Another indicator of attention, nodding is an acknowledgement of what your patient is telling you. The nod says “I hear you.” Of course, it can also communicate agreement. According to communication and body language expert Vanessa Van Edwards, a slow triple nod will make the other person speak 3 to 4 times longer — a helpful strategy if you need a patient to share more detail.
Better Communication, Stronger Connections
Intentional, patient-centered communication builds more than just understanding — it builds trust, respect, and long-term relationships. By practicing clear verbal strategies like the R-E-S-P-E-C-T framework and being mindful of non-verbal cues, you can help your patients feel seen, heard, and supported.
Want more strategies to connect with your patients? Check out 3 Time-Smart Ways to Build Stronger Patient Relationships for practical tips you can put into action today.
