Forget Motivational Interviewing, Find Common Ground. – Rx Radio

Forget Motivational Interviewing, Find Common Ground.

Okay, maybe don’t throw your motivational interviewing (MI) techniques out the window, but here’s something to add. I know MI is an important tool for influencing behaviors, but you can really take this a step further by building connections with your patients.

I recently spoke about how important it is to build connections with other healthcare professionals for bettering patient care and advancing your career, but we should also look to do this with our patients. Our ability to create connections and build relationships to influence behaviors are keys to our success as a healthcare professionals to get our patients to be more healthy.

Start by asking your patients about their day, see if you can find out what their hobbies are, their passions, and start looking for ways to connect. For example, one of my patients once paid with a Disney themed credit card and, being an Annual Passholder for Disney, we now have a relationship built around conversations regarding Disney.

Building these connections can lead to building trust and even a sense of accountability for patients which can better influence healthy behaviors.

Thanks for reading.

Take Care,

-Richard

Richard Waithe, PharmD | Richard@rxradio.fm

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