Rephrase The Subjective

After the subjective, take 60 seconds to rephrase the patient's story back to them.

It sounds simple, but it does three things at once.  It helps the patient feel seen and heard, which builds therapeutic alliance. It holds you accountable to your active listening skills, you can't rephrase what you didn't actually hear. It gives the patient a chance to correct you, or surface something they said that you may have missed the weight of.

That last one matters more than you might think. Patients often share something important quietly, waiting to see if we catch it. The rephrase is your chance to prove you did, or their chance to say it louder.

Patients just want to know you were listening, so take 60 seconds to show them you were.