The Importance of Bedside Manner in Healthcare
Do you remember the last time you walked out of a doctor’s office and felt unheard, misunderstood or rushed like you were just another number? Chances are, it wasn’t just the diagnosis or treatment plan that led you to feel deflated, it was the way you were spoken to, listened to, and engaged with. Communication or ‘bedside manner’ isn’t just a soft skill in healthcare, it’s a vital one.
Dr James Dalton, who lectures across NIDA’s Common Subjects, is reshaping how healthcare professionals communicate. His ongoing research ‘Medicine and Its Double’ explores the intersection of performing arts and medicine, expanding how educators and practitioners can use performance training to benefit patient outcomes. Drawing from his background as a theatre director, Dalton shows that, like actors, healthcare professionals navigate high-stakes “performances” in real-time, emotionally charged situations.
“I’m most passionate about being involved in the growing attention around the importance of performing arts theory and practice in the delivery of healthcare.” Say’s Dalton. “That means understanding the gap between how students and doctors ‘perform’ as professionals and the messiness of human experience in high-pressure, complex hospital systems”.
Dalton’s work strongly resonates with us at NIDA Corporate Training, where for over 30 years we’ve equipped professionals across industries such as healthcare, with performance-based tools to boost confidence, calm nerves, clarify communication, and build meaningful connections. Research like Dalton’s reinforces the real-world impact of performance training and its role in helping professionals communicate with clarity and empathy.
What Makes Bedside Manner and Communication Important?
Dalton’s research demonstrates that empathy and effective communication between doctors and patients is more than following a script. But it doesn’t stop there. A 2018 Norcal study revealed that stronger physician-patient rapport can lower the risk of liability claims when patients feel understood and cared for, even during adverse medical experiences.
Empathy benefits everyone. For patients, it’s a critical factor in their willingness to follow medical advice. For doctors, it’s a pathway to reduce burnout, improve job satisfaction, and make a real difference. Dalton’s research comes in to teach students this while still allowing them to learn throughout their studies.
“The most unexpected outcome for me was the extent to which there are so many opportunities for students and patients to interact one-on-one, usually unobserved.” Dalton Say’s. “For a student, any mistake they make in how they talk with a patient is a learning experience, one of many they’ll have that week. But for that patient, this might leave them feeling betrayed by the medical profession and healthcare system, even reluctant to seek out treatment in the future.”
Dalton’s findings uncover a disconnect in how traditional medical training equips healthcare professionals. Too often, communication is taught as an informational task, rather than a dynamic, human experience. Leading to missed opportunities and people feeling unheard and unseen in vulnerable moments.
What Can Healthcare Learn from the Stage?
Research, like Dalton’s work, shines a spotlight on how methods from the performing arts can develop essential communication skills in the workforce and help individuals communicate better to achieve collaborative success.
But it isn’t unknown for healthcare industries to take learnings from the performing arts. They’ve integrated simulation acting for patients for years. Part of Dalton’s work was to identify how to flip this scenario and improve how doctors communicate within their student education.
Actors understand how the body looks, sounds and reacts, and how people interpret this.
Image credit: Dr James Dalton.
Performance excels in areas such as:
- Body Language: Small gestures, posture, and facial expressions convey empathy and attentiveness.
- Voice Dynamics: Simple adjustments in tone, pitch, and pace can make instructions feel softer, clearer, or more reassuring.
- Active Listening: Teaching the ability to truly hear and respond to cues from others.
- Presence: Maintaining focus on the moment, ensuring the patient feels valued despite time pressures.
These theatrical techniques are vital tools that can transform miscommunications into trust-building moments. Something as straightforward as making eye contact or sitting at a patient’s level can make patients feel safer and more connected. These techniques only become meaningful when applied in response to a patient’s needs instead of as one-size-fits all solutions. What is important, as Dalton’s research shows, is that patients are co-creators of every performance, not a separate audience watching a show.
Putting It into Practice – Tools That Work
Dalton observed that the most significant connections happen when healthcare professionals relinquish the need to control every moment and instead focus on being present. Much like actors connecting to their audience, doctors who actively engage in a patient’s narrative foster an environment of trust.
It’s not about “acting’ or “faking it” in the health care industry, it’s about understanding how we communicate and adapt to shifting emotional dynamics, which is essential to prevent burnout while retaining humanity in work.
Empathy as a Bridge to Better Healthcare
Hospitals can be isolating, even frightening places for patients. But strong communication, laced with empathy, has the power to humanise these environments and transform how patients experience care. Dalton’s research reminds us that healthcare isn’t just about administering procedures, it’s about connecting person-to-person, heart-to-heart.
And the stakes are high. A single misjudged interaction can leave a patient feeling alienated or reluctant to seek future treatments, while empathetic care builds trust and transforms outcomes.
Whether you’re a senior manager or an aspiring healthcare professional, there’s potential to improve these crucial skills. It starts with recognising that bedside manner is more than just a “nice to have”, it’s a core competency.
We’re excited to see where this research goes, and how this can further support professionals in all fields. To stay up to date on Dr. James Dalton’s Research, you can read more about it here.
