152 Essential Skills for Health Careers Success
Barriers to Active Listening
There are many situations in which active listening is challenging. It is
important to listen closely to your patients and coworkers, particularly in a
healthcare facility where the well-being of your patients may be concerned.
People often fail to listen when they face the following situations:
• You are interrupted by someone coming into the room, a ringing tele-
phone, or other people talking loudly nearby.
• You move ahead in the listening process when you think you have
heard what the person is saying, thinking to yourself, “I’ve heard all
this before.”
• You do not agree with what is being said and, therefore, refuse to
listen (Figure 7.13).
• You cannot hear what the patient is saying because of the speaker’s
soft voice.
• You do not understand what the patient is saying because of a speech
problem, the speaker uses challenging vocabulary, or has a thick
accent.
• Your mind starts wandering, interfering with your concentration.
To be a good listener, you must concentrate on what is being said,
showing a sincere interest in what the speaker is saying. To avoid being
distracted, block out everything except the speaker’s voice. Do not inter-
rupt the speaker unless you cannot understand what is being said. Ask the
speaker to explain what he or she is saying in greater detail. Remember
that active listening can be improved with practice. Being a good listener
makes you a much better employee.
Martin Novak/Shutterstock.com
Figure 7.13 Are these two people demonstrating active listening?
Think It Through
Can you remember
times when you have
felt that someone was
not listening to you?
How did it make you
feel? How did you make
yourself heard, if at all?
How can you be a better
listener?