Recently, I was invited by a prominent pharmaceutical company to help their researchers improve communication skills when speaking with patients considering participation in clinical trials. The key takeaway? Trust is at the heart of effective patient-provider communication. Yet, surprisingly few healthcare providers receive formal training on how to build trusting relationships with patients, families, or…

I hung up the phone, still laughing, only to turn and see his parents staring at me in shock. Their faces silently asked a painful question: how could anyone laugh when their child was so critically ill? In that moment, I recognized the first signs of my professional burnout—depersonalization, exhaustion, and depression. That fateful phone…