The Humanization of Health Care: In-Depth Knowledge Regarding the Ethics of Dental Care in Oncological Patients

This chapter provides an illuminating insight into the processes of the humanization of care in order to increase specialist knowledge regarding the nature of the doctor-patient relationship. It will deal with the notion of care and its various aspects, including the existential dimension of the process of caregiving by means of a narrative (storytelling) interview. After a brief analysis of the changes which have affected medical science in past centuries, the focus of the paper will be directed to the remarkable transformation which clinical practice has undergone, by virtue of which the concept of the taking care of the patient has gained increasing attention. Thus, care can be provided by means of the narrative interview, not only as medical history but also as action: it recognises the patient’s world, in turn opening up the processes of the humanization of care in the field of dental medicine. The scientific community has long questioned the traditional medical approach, which is centred on disease, and it now pays ever more attention to the involvement of the patient in the process of diagnosis and treatment. Every time a patient sits down in front of a specialist, they bring with them stories, their own and ours, describing their stomatognathic system. A technically accurate medical history with information untouched by the doctor makes space for the narrative interview and ‘caring presence’ of the operator, to reflect on what it means to ‘care for the patient’. From the point of view of optimising care, it is therefore useful to rethink the relationship between dentist and patient: effective clinical practice is not possible without listening empathically to the patient’s story, their perceptions, and their experiences. It is necessary to reformulate settings to improve and render them more effective and, where possible, to include appropriate active listening strategies and adopt specific communication techniques. In this paper the authors will describe their vision of the humanisation of care in the form of a narrative.