House Call Episode 2: Active Listening With the OARS Model

Podcast Runtime: 13 Minutes; Learning Assessment: 2 Minutes

Active listening with a patient allows the clinician to gain insight into a patient’s motivational level and potential barriers for health behavior changes. In this course, we explore strategies for active listening during a patient home health visit. Gaining skills in active listening gives the clinician tools to support the patient through challenging health behavior changes and improves patient outcomes. In this podcast, we examine the difference in patient outcomes when using directive patient interactions and active listening strategies to demonstrate the impact of a clinician’s active listening skills. The course reviews ways to incorporate the active listening strategies outlined in the OARS model: asking open-ended questions, affirming, using reflective listening, and summarizing. At the end of the podcast, the listener will have an understanding of active listening strategies and ways to incorporate active listening into patient care.