Communicating with Respect in Healthcare – Free Access

A doctor discusses with a nurse what needs to be done for a patient, while two others are waiting in the hallway and numerous protocols need to be followed.

The nurse tries to express her concerns, but her concern goes unheard.

Or think of the patient who keeps asking for more than is feasible—not out of bad intent, but from a need for contact. It simply doesn’t fit into the professional’s full schedule, who dismisses the patient with a few quick words.

Moments like these occur daily in healthcare. Things are sometimes said that don’t feel right in the rush of the day. The bucket of tension and mutual judgment slowly fills up, even though everyone is acting from the best intentions.

Healthcare, as Van Unen once said, exists by the grace of the relationship—meaning that the relationship itself lies at the heart of good care. Under time pressure, with high expectations and within a system that keeps demanding more, it’s almost remarkable that collaboration still works as well as it does.

Better conversations lead to stronger connections, healthier relationships, and ultimately, better care. Not because healthcare is failing, but because we want to contribute to a work environment where working well and caring well go hand in hand—for everyone.

With Communicating with Respect (CmR), we’ve developed a tool that supports healthcare professionals in a playful yet profound way to become more aware of what happens in relationships—between caregiver and patient, and among colleagues.

Most importantly, it helps us have real conversations and recognize the movements we can make ourselves to come into deeper contact. To also take care of the relationships themselves.

The tool is based on well-established theories such as the systemic perspective, Transactional Analysis, and the Rose of Leary.

It is accessible and playful, yet also opening and confronting. Through a series of short online steps, you follow a mini-training that enables you to look differently at yourself and your relationships.

Curious? Take a look at https://www.compass-ion.online/academy