“We need to listen more to patients”
- Seppe van Bladel
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Clear, honest, and safe communication between doctors and patients in everyday clinical practice is perhaps one of the most important forms of science communication and is essential for patients to make informed decisions about their own health. However, not all patients are heard by their doctors, and their knowledge about their own symptoms is often deemed unreliable. In this interview, philosopher Seppe van Bladel speaks with researcher, HIV clinician, and writer Dr. Rageshri Dhairyawan about her most recent book Unheard: The Medical Practice of Silencing, which explores the phenomenon of epistemic injustice in healthcare.
Thank you for participating in this interview. To kick things off, could you describe what you do on a daily basis?
“Sure. I’m a doctor specializing in HIV medicine. I practice in London as a consultant physician at Barts Health NHS Trust in the East End. My day-to-day work involves seeing people living with HIV, both in the clinic and on the wards. I also do research at Queen Mary University of London, mainly on health inequalities in HIV and sexual health, particularly around gender and ethnicity.”
“Alongside that, I do quite a bit of writing and speaking, giving talks to medics, the general public, and patients. And I’ve written a book: Unheard: The Medical Practice of Silencing.”
Do you consider communication between yourself and your patients a form of science communication?
“I think that’s where my interest in speaking and writing comes from; communicating with my patients. As doctors, we often speak a medical language that’s different from what the everyday public understands. So it’s really important to translate that into something patients can understand, so they can make informed decisions about their health and understand the science behind it. If we can’t communicate well, they can’t make those choices. So how we communicate with our patients is one of the most important forms of science communication."
