Prescribing Presence: What Happens When a Healthcare Professional Finally Slows Down

As a healthcare professional, how often do you secretly sigh when a patient starts taking what feels like too long to speak?

I used to do the exact same thing. Until a home visit changed how I practise medicine, and honestly, how I move through the world.

This is a story about active listening in healthcare. But more than that, it is a story about presence. About what becomes possible when you stop trying to manage a conversation and start genuinely showing up for the person in front of you.

The Visit That Stopped Me in My Tracks

My days are usually a race against the clock. From the moment I arrive and get settled, I am already organising the visits ahead, mentally calculating time, running the logistics. Efficiency, I told myself, was the point.

On this particular day, I visited a lovely lady. Within minutes of our conversation, it became clear that she had significant difficulty remembering things. Her thoughts looped. She repeated herself. She struggled to get to the point.

If I am being completely honest, my usual reaction until that point would have been an inward sigh. I would have immediately started looking for ways to gently hurry things along. To get through the visit. To move on.

But this time was different.

Because I had a gap in my schedule that day, I was not rushing to the next appointment. So I made a choice. I decided to actively slow down, breathe, and give her my full, unhurried attention.

I am so incredibly glad I did.

What Happened When I Stopped Rushing

Something about my posture and demeanour must have communicated something to her without a single word being spoken. The moment she sensed that I had calmed down and was truly listening, a beautiful shift happened.

Her anxiety melted away.

And then something remarkable followed. Because she felt heard, her thoughts seemed to organise themselves. She stopped repeating herself. She became more concise in describing what was worrying her. The very thing I had thought would slow the consultation down, genuine presence, actually made it more efficient.

As I walked away from her house, I felt something I had not expected to feel after a routine home visit. I felt pleased. Not just that I had done my job, but that I had given her something meaningful: not just the end result of my clinical skills, but a more personal gift. I had listened. I had let her feel she was heard. I had encouraged her to express herself, and most importantly, to feel valued.

"Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued." ~ Brene Brown

The Wake-Up Call I Did Not Know I Needed

On my way back to the car, I found myself thinking about all the previous times I had done the opposite. All the times I had tried to hurry a conversation that needed space. All the times my impatience had inadvertently created more anxiety, made a patient repeat themselves more, made them feel rushed and unseen.

I had thought I was being efficient. I had not realised I was actually making things harder, for the patient and for myself.

This is something Nell Tharpe captured well: expressing compassion through listening builds trust and acknowledges the patient as an individual. Not a case. Not a schedule slot. An individual.

There is an adapted version of a Hippocratic principle I keep coming back to:

Patience is the secret ingredient in medicine: we cure sometimes, treat often, but we can comfort always.

That is not just a clinical truth. It is a human one.

Why Active Listening Matters More Than We Admit

We live in a world that has confused speed with effectiveness. Sleep, wake, work, study, commute, repeat. We are busy, and in that busyness, presence has become a rare and precious thing.

In healthcare especially, the pressure to move quickly can quietly erode the very thing that makes care meaningful. True connection, and true healing, requires more than clinical accuracy. It requires presence.

And the evidence supports this. When patients feel genuinely listened to:

• Anxiety reduces, often visibly and quickly

• They are better able to articulate their symptoms and concerns

• Trust in the healthcare professional increases

• Adherence to treatment and follow-through improves

• The consultation often becomes more efficient, not less

• Presence is not a luxury. It is part of the prescription.

Three Ways to Practise Deeper Presence Today

You do not need a gap in your schedule or a perfect set of circumstances. Presence is a practice, and like all practices, it starts small.

1. Put the device down and make eye contact.

When a patient or a person you love begins to speak, put down your phone, close your laptop, and look them in the eye. This alone communicates something powerful: you are here, and they matter.

2. Use the three-second rule before responding.

When you feel the urge to rush, to fill the silence, or to redirect the conversation, pause. Take a breath. Give it three seconds. You will often find that the other person is not finished, or that your patience opens a space they needed.

3. Validate feelings before you fix the problem.

Not everything needs a solution. Sometimes the most effective clinical and human response is simply: I hear you. That is not a soft option. It is often exactly what allows the person to access the clarity they already have.

Kindness Is a Clinical Skill, Not a Soft Extra

I want to say something plainly, because I think it gets lost in conversations about healthcare efficiency.

Kindness is not a personality trait that some professionals happen to have. It is a learnable, practicable, evidence-backed skill. It is intentional. And when it is applied with intention in healthcare settings, it changes outcomes.

The fragrance of your kindness lingers long after you are gone. That is not a sentiment. That is what patients carry with them when they leave a consultation: not just what you diagnosed, but how you made them feel. Not just what you treated, but whether they felt seen.

Words and attention cost nothing to give. But they can mean everything to receive.

Let's Keep This Conversation Going

Is there a moment in your work, or in your personal life, where simply slowing down completely changed an interaction? Where presence was the thing that made the difference?

Whether you work in healthcare, customer service, education, or you are navigating the daily conversations of family life, I would love to hear your story.

Share your experience in the comments below.

And if this resonated with you, come and join our Community of Kindness: a WhatsApp space for people who are choosing to live and lead with more intention and compassion.

You can join at memriz.online/community-of-kindness

The full story is also available on the podcast over on YouTube at @lolaadeosun957. Come and listen.

With intention,

Lola Adeosun