Skillswise printable factsheet

SLlr/L1.2

Listening in care

Listening skills are very important in care situations:
Care

To take a history
To find out where the pain is
To get to know the patient's preferences
To follow instructions
To take messages
To know if a machine is working properly
To help people work through problems

Listening to a person can be a very important part of therapy.

When we listen to someone and take in details such as the names of family members, pets or hobbies and then use this information in conversation, e.g. by asking, "How's Ella's knee?" we make a person feel valued.

In describing a problem or situation a person will usually include irrelevant comments and go off at a tangent.
Close, critical listening is important, to enable the listener to sift the content of what is spoken and sometimes to guide the speaker back to the main point of the conversation.

Listening helps to build rapport, encourages trust and may lead to the disclosure of important information needed for treatment.

Listening helps to build rapport, encourages trust and may lead to the disclosure of important information needed for treatment.

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