Curiosity and Communication in Rehabilitation Training Programs: the why, the what, and the how

Can treating symptoms alone lead to real healing?

This session explores the shift from a biomedical model to a person-centred approach in rehabilitation, where not only clinical decisions matter, but also attention to the patient’s experience, needs, and expectations. It highlights how genuine curiosity, empathy, and high-quality communication influence the course of treatment – and why these competencies should be developed during training.

We discuss how to build partnership-based relationships, co-define treatment goals, and sustain long-term outcomes; how empathy is expressed in the context of war; how to develop students’ ability to see the patient as a person rather than merely a diagnosis; and how communication supports coordination within an interdisciplinary team.

Lode Verreyen, Physiotherapist; leads an interdisciplinary practice in Antwerp, Belgium; COO of Pro-Q-Kine (Belgian accreditation society for physiotherapists); board member of Patient Empowerment and EACH

Anna Udvardi, Dr., Physiotherapist in private practice; holder of the International Diploma in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT); former lecturer at the Department of Physiotherapy, Semmelweis University (Budapest, Hungary).

Moderator: Anastasiya Leukhina, Consultant of the Ukrainian-Swiss project "Medical Education Development," author of The Not-So-Scary Book: About Life, Death, and Everything In Between, and editor of the manual Humanity and Empathy in Healthcare.