The words to use
- Clinical empathy
- Understanding a patient's situation, perspective and feelings, communicating that understanding and checking it is accurate, then acting on it helpfully (Mercer and Reynolds, 2002).
- Dental anxiety
- Fear of dental care, from mild nerves to extreme anxiety that may be a phobia. In England's 2023 adult survey, 15% of adults with teeth had extreme dental anxiety.
- Tell-show-do
- Explain a step in words the patient understands, show it somewhere harmless, then do exactly what you showed. A paediatric technique that suits patients of any age.
- Stop signal
- An agreed signal, such as a raised hand, that lets the patient pause treatment. Practise it before starting and honour it the first time it is used.
- Compassion fatigue
- Figley's term for a form of caregiver burnout: the emotional cost of caring for people who are suffering. He suggests learning to switch off from work so you can recover.
