The Four Temperaments in the Health Care Industry

I have to date, not met any successful healthcare worker without a deep love for people. Empathy and caring for people's needs should form part of any nurse or doctor's make-up – unless they choose to spend time in laboratories or the admin side of the industry.

One could therefore assume that the happiest health carers would have Yellow and Green as their dominant temperament types. (These are the two people-oriented temperaments.) But this does not mean that many of the two task-oriented types – Red and Blue – do not have a proper place in the broader healthcare picture.

However, patients belong to all temperament types and connecting with them requires a sound knowledge of the four categories. One could also take for granted that fear and insecurity form a crucial part of the predicament affecting patients and their families.

Let us take a hypothetical case of a patient in her thirties, admitted for a hysterectomy. The nurse preparing the pre-operative drip meets her for the first time and wants to put her mind at ease.

Relationships will be the patient's primary concern if dealing with a Yellow or Green person. Asking about her family situation and children would make for an authentic connection. A Blue person would want to know in detail what the drip contains and how long the operation would most likely take. Red would need exact and concise information about the time and implications of the procedure. Long-winded stories about people would only serve to irritate Red.



A sensitive healthcare professional would learn to ask the right questions to determine her patient's needs and most profound uncertainties. The challenge is to make the patient feel safe and heard – this is the success path to personalised and trusted healthcare.