Communication in healthcare 

A wealth of studies over many years have supported what physicians and other providers know from their own clinical experience: that a good doctor-patient relationship is essential for first-rate health care.  This relationship involves establishing and maintaining a strong alliance with patients, and it depends on the emotional intelligence of the provider, which includes self-awareness and empathy skills.  The communication in medicine initiative aims to further the emotional skills of providers and to improve their treatment alliance with patients by showing how the findings of several decades of research on the relationship between psychotherapists and patients can be readily applied in the larger health care field.