A、It improves the health of patients. B、It improves the mood of doctors. C、It facilitates communication. D、It decreases the medi

When doctor Rebekah Bernard sees a patient, the doesn’t always find it easy to empathize with them about their medical complaints—particularly if the symptoms are due to lifestyle disease, such as obesity-related heart disease, the progression of which is within their control. But regardless of her true feelings, the Florida-based GP always puts the patient first and hides her conflicting attitudes behind a professional and kind manner. And she always does her best to help them. In short, she’s faking it. But it’s to the improvement of her job, her colleagues and her patients, she says.
    She’s not alone. Many of us say what needs to be said to get the job done. But does that make us inauthentic, or worse, liars?
    Well, no. In the workplace, many of us have covered up tricky topics to keep from embarrassing others, or pretended to care about something when we didn’t. In fact, mastering this behaviour can be a valuable skill. Whether it’s indulging a long complaint or volunteering for cause you don’t really believe in, there are times when it pays to come across as caring and compassionate, even if you don’t feel genuine about it.
    Bernard, for example, often finds that colleagues or patients mirror her emotional state, so coming across as caring—even when she doesn’t feel particularly empathetic—not only makes her work interactions more pleasant, it raises the likelihood of a good medical outcome as her patients are more open to advice.
    “You almost have to deliberately force yourself to cat, and when you do…you’ll get better results,” she says. “Maybe you don’t want to call it ‘faking. ’ I advocate ‘acting’.
    But if you’re worried that pretending compassion will make you seem like a fraud, how can you ensure come across as genuine? For one, Bernard uses body language. To create a connection, she uses the active listening technique—she leans in when the patient is speaking, lowers herself into a seat so she sees them eye-to-eye, and repeats their statements in her own words to ensure they know they’ve been heard and understood.
    Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
    23. What is this recording mainly about?
    24. What does Bernard find about showing care at work?
    25. How does Bernard do to create a connection with the patients?