The “human factor” and the phenomenological approach in the education of healthcare professionals

The naturalistic paradigm in the medical sciences, based on the presumed "objectivity" of the body and its diseases, makes difficult to grasp the subjective and intersubjective dimensions of illness and care. Nevertheless, professional healthcare often implies delicate - and yet essential - engagement of the emotional kind. Humanness is the cornerstone of an interpersonal care relationship that cannot be reduced to mere technical performance. Phenomenology provides theoretical concepts and practical tools for raising awareness of these "human" dimensions of care, making a key contribution to the epistemology, ontology and ethics of care. Bringing a phenomenological approach to bear within the continuing education of healthcare professionals can help to develop a professionalism in which behaving, thinking and feeling are not separated, and care of the other is continuously associated with self-care.