Developing Clinical Empathy: Making a Difference in Patient Care (FutureLearn)

Developing Clinical Empathy: Making a Difference in Patient Care (FutureLearn)

Discover the difference empathy can make to patient care, and improve your own clinical empathy. Understand empathy, and improve your own empathic ability. This course will help you develop an empathic practice that is individualised and attuned to the needs of all patients. You will learn about different types of empathy, explore non-verbal cues, and understand key opportunities for showing empathy in clinical care.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Showing an understanding of a patient’s situation is one of the most important relationship-building skills that a healthcare provider can have. This is widely recognised in healthcare: the NHS in the UK recruits for compassion as one of its core values, and medical schools look for this in applicants at admissions interviews.

What topics will you cover?

  • What is empathy?
  • The importance of empathy in healthcare
  • Empathetic opportunities and responses
  • The challenges of showing empathy
  • Building resilience

Learning on this course
You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

  • Describe the difference between empathy and sympathy
  • Explore the use of emotional and cognitive empathy
  • Explore the importance of empathy in healthcare
  • Identify empathic opportunities
  • Reflect on verbal and non-verbal empathic responses

-Discuss the challenges of being empathic as a healthcare professional

  • Identify the importance of self-awareness and building resilience for empathic practice

Who is the course for?
The course is suitable for anybody engaged in healthcare who interacts with patients and would like to develop their empathic practice. This may include undergraduate students undertaking medical or healthcare-focused degrees, or even those looking to work in healthcare or applying to study healthcare qualifications. The learning outcomes for this course are transferable across all healthcare specialities and can be applied worldwide regardless of the type of the health care system.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Causes of Human Disease: Understanding Cardiovascular Disease (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Causes of Human Disease: Understanding Cardiovascular Disease (FutureLearn)

Explore normal cardiovascular function and risk factors associated with heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading global cause of death. On this course, you’ll learn how the cardiovascular system functions and understand common cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke, as well as the risk factors associated with them.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Perioperative Medicine in Action (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University College London

Perioperative Medicine in Action (FutureLearn)

Explore perioperative medicine and how you can improve care for the high risk surgical patient. Join this RCoA endorsed course. Too many patients die or suffer prolonged complications following surgery. Perioperative medicine is an emerging, multi-disciplinary approach, which tackles this issue, by optimising the care of high-risk surgical patients. It encompasses disciplines including anaesthetics, surgery, nursing, care of the elderly, physiotherapy and healthcare management.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Introduction to Emergency Contraception (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of East Anglia

Introduction to Emergency Contraception (FutureLearn)

Understand emergency contraception and the choices available with this course for people working in healthcare and related fields. Emergency contraception can be confusing, with different types available and public understanding sometimes limited. On this course you will master the basics of emergency contraception: learning about the different types of post-coital contraception, exploring clinical guideliness; and working out which type of contraception is appropriate in different situations.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
ECG Assessment: an Introduction for Healthcare Providers (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
St George's, University of London

ECG Assessment: an Introduction for Healthcare Providers (FutureLearn)

Understand the principles of electrocardiography and learn a step-by-step approach to the ECG test, with this free online course. The electrocardiograph (also known as electrocardiogram) or ECG is a non-invasive diagnostic procedure, commonly used to assess people with known or suspected heart disease, in a variety of healthcare settings. Competent recording, reading and interpretation is vital to ensure safe and effective care, yet ECGs are commonly undertaken by unqualified and junior staff, who have received little training.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Managing Change in a Healthcare Environment (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of East Anglia

Managing Change in a Healthcare Environment (FutureLearn)

Understand why change happens in healthcare environments and learn how to improve your response. In rapidly changing world, with new healthcare roles emerging and the complexity of care increasing, being able to respond to change is vital. On this course for healthcare professionals, you will explore the issue of change in healthcare environments, and learn how to improve your response to change.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Clinical Bioinformatics: Unlocking Genomics in Healthcare (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Manchester

Clinical Bioinformatics: Unlocking Genomics in Healthcare (FutureLearn)

Learn about the role of clinical bioinformaticians in healthcare and how their work is helping to realise the genomics revolution. This free online course aims to raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals of the role of Clinical Bioinformatics and Genomics in healthcare today.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks
Digital Health for Cancer Management: Smart Health Technologies in Complex Diseases (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Taipei Medical University

Digital Health for Cancer Management: Smart Health Technologies in Complex Diseases (FutureLearn)

Learn how new digital health technologies are transforming cancer management with this course for healthcare professionals. Recent advances in cancer treatment and management have lead to people with cancer living longer than ever before, now healthcare must begin to consider how to help people with cancer live healthily. On this course you will explore and discuss how new digital health technologies, like wearables, social media and home sensors, are starting to transform the management of cancer.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Liver Disease: Looking After Your Liver (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Birmingham

Liver Disease: Looking After Your Liver (FutureLearn)

Learn about how your liver works, ways to look after it and how liver damage is caused, studied and treated around the world. We are currently experiencing an international explosion of liver disease that continues to have enormous impact upon healthcare systems and global health. In the UK we have seen a 20% increase in deaths related to liver disease since 2000 and this pattern reflects the global situation.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Dysphagia: Swallowing Difficulties and Medicines (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of East Anglia

Dysphagia: Swallowing Difficulties and Medicines (FutureLearn)

This course will enhance the knowledge of any person involved in the administration of medicines to patients with dysphagia. The course offers an opportunity to network with other learners and with the creators of the course through discussions, graphs and social networking features and to share knowledge with other learners and professionals.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks
Understanding Anxiety, Depression and CBT (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Reading

Understanding Anxiety, Depression and CBT (FutureLearn)

Improve your understanding of depression and anxiety and find out more about an effective and evidence-based treatment: CBT. Anxiety and depression are terms discussed widely, in different media and amongst family and friends. But what do those labels actually mean? On this five week course, from the University of Reading, you will explore what it means to have anxiety or depression and how they are identified.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks