_______ is the willingness or ability to understand what a patient is feeling because you have experienced the same feelings.

Empathy is the ability to genuinely understand and share the feelings of another person, particularly in a healthcare setting. When a medical professional is able to connect with a patient on an emotional level and relate to their experiences, they demonstrate empathy. This connection is crucial for creating a supportive environment where patients feel heard and understood, which can significantly impact their overall healthcare experience and compliance.

In this context, empathy goes beyond just recognizing a patient's emotional state; it involves experiencing and understanding those feelings at a deeper level, often because the professional has faced similar situations themselves. This emotional resonance can foster trust and improve patient-provider relationships.

Nonverbal communication refers to the ways of conveying messages without words, such as body language or facial expressions, which can certainly accompany empathetic interactions but do not define the concept of empathy itself. Verbal communication involves using spoken words to convey information or feelings, but it doesn't inherently include the emotional connection tied to empathy. Sympathy, on the other hand, is often seen as feeling pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune without necessarily understanding their feelings from a personal perspective, making it less effective in building the kind of deep emotional connection that empathy facilitates.