Brought to you by the University of Alberta, College of Health Sciences. Developed by Dr. Michelle Lobchuk and Joelle Fawcett-Arsenault.
In today’s fast-paced and complex healthcare environments, strong, respectful relationships are the foundation of safe, high-quality care. Patients, families, and healthcare teams all depend on sensitive collaboration and shared decision-making to achieve the best patient outcomes.
Grounded in the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC) Competencies Framework (2024), this course empowers learners with practical skills to cultivate empathy and foster effective team-based collaboration.
Empathy isn’t just an innate trait—it’s a teachable skill. As a cornerstone of emotional intelligence, empathy strengthens communication, leadership, and connection. By developing empathetic capacity—toward patients, families, and care partners as well as colleagues—healthcare professionals enhance self-compassion, build stronger teams, and deliver more person-centred care.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
-
describe the empathic approach to enhance a sensitive understanding of another person’s viewpoint.
-
describe essential techniques that underlie the empathic approach such as self-awareness, self-reflection, feedback receiving behaviour, and perspective-taking.
-
demonstrate an understanding of how the empathic approach can be utilized in team-based collaborative practice that includes patients/their families.
-
explore using an empathetic approach in a simulated workplace interaction
Course Format
-
online, self-directed, asynchronous
-
approx. 6 - 8 hours
-
video presentations
-
curated readings/videos
-
reflective workbook
-
knowledge checks
-
3-hour in-person or online simulation experience
Course Dates:
-
Online course open November 1st - December 15th + In-person Simulation - December 4th, 2025 Time: Evening
-
Online course open: January 14th - February 28th; In-person Simulation - February 28th, 2025 Time: Afternoon
How to Apply
Once you have submitted payment, you will receive an email with information on how to access the course.
NOTE: A 100% refund of the course fee is available to participants who withdraw before the first day of the course.
Course Completion / Recognition
This course does not assign official grades. However, to receive a Certificate of Completion, participants must complete all learning activities and score at least 75% on the knowledge check quizzes. Participants are given unlimited quiz attempts.
Location:
The simulation experience will take place at the University of Alberta, Dianne and Irving Kipnes Health Research Academy (formerly known as the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy (ECHA)), 11405 87 Ave NW, Edmonton
Questions
Contact us at chsmc@ualberta.ca