Cultivating curiosity about our patients can make all the difference to their care

Abstract

Cultivating curiosity about our patients can make all the difference to their care Asking questions that elicit who a patient is, and not just their diagnosis and symptoms, leads to more compassionate care, says Louise Smith Louise Smith senior lecturer in clinical skillsMy mother lay there, day after day, waiting for the time to come.She had cancer and was terminally ill, with only a few days left to live.She was unconscious and cachexic, the toll of the disease evident.At 83 years old, she had grey hair as she could no longer visit the hairdresser.Before this illness, nothing would have got in the way of her weekly hair appointments that she had enjoyed for so many years.