Empathy is the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes. It’s the effort to feel what others feel and understand their emotions, which is the key to understanding other people’s experiences. Show This kind of understanding is exactly what doctors should strive for when caring for their patients. However, doctors are often trained to approach every case with a level of objectivity that can contradict the benefits of empathy in healthcare. Objectivity is a critical component in diagnosing health concerns and devising treatment plans. But health issues impact people emotionally, not just biologically. Fears and anxieties can affect everything from the patient’s adherence to medications to the effectiveness of certain types of treatments. To provide optimal care, physicians and specialists must recognize the significance of patient emotions and the importance of empathy in health and nursing care. Balancing Objectivity, Empathy, and Healthcare Empathy makes the industry more supportive. Consider these examples of empathy in healthcare: A doctor who is sensitive to patients’ suffering can connect with them on a much deeper level. If the doctor advises undergoing a certain treatment plan or taking certain medications, the patient will have more trust in that advice. On the other hand, becoming emotionally involved can cloud someone’s judgment. Doctors may take risks they wouldn’t otherwise or be more cautious than the situation warrants. Both of these outcomes lead to an improper level of care. Too much detachment, however, and there won’t be a connection between the physician and the patient. If the physician seems distant or responds coldly to the patient’s questions and concerns, then the patient may feel like they don’t care. Any deviation from treatment or failure to take medication will simply be deemed non-adherence, and the patient will be considered uncooperative. Providing compassionate care means balancing both sides of the equation. Even though it is important for physicians to objectively assess a patient’s health concerns, it’s also important for physicians to prioritize empathy in healthcare communication when they acknowledge the results of patient assessments. At Marquis, we believe physicians need to take into account the patient’s emotional state and the impact health concerns can have on their lives. Empathy in Healthcare Studies show that nurturing a more empathic relationship can lead to better outcomes for patients, fewer disputes with healthcare providers, and higher reimbursements due to greater patient satisfaction. On a more day-to-day basis, it also makes caring for patients a more rewarding experience. So how does one balance objectivity and empathy? We believe it begins with listening. Here’s how to show empathy in healthcare: 1. First, be aware of moments that lend themselves to the highest levels of empathy. Are you about to deliver a difficult medical diagnosis? Is your patient feeling hopeless? Are family members continually asking whether their loved one will be OK? Evaluate people’s expressions and actions. You’ll know the moments when you see them. 2. Listen carefully for what isn’t being said. Patients don’t always explicitly state their feelings, needs, and values. However, they will express themselves, and you can pick up on these feelings with an empathetic ear. 3. Stay present. On average, doctors listen to their patients for only 11 seconds. Look patients in the eye, respond when appropriate, and don’t let your thoughts shift elsewhere. A patient will notice if you’re not really listening or paying attention. 4. Look for cues that the patient has completed their thought before speaking. For example, you’ll know it’s OK to jump in when someone drops off at the end of a sentence or shifts positions when sitting. 5. Reflect on difficult or emotional conversations. Don’t push them out of your mind after the patient leaves. Get to know your patient by contemplating how things went and noting what to say during future conversations. Empathy in healthcare should be a standard practice, but the industry can feel draining sometimes. Objectivity is easier to fall back on, but you don’t have to choose. At Marquis Health Services, we don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. We believe that compassion and empathy in healthcare are what makes physicians the best they can be.
Effective, empathetic communication is one of the most important skills to have as a physician — and is key to creating a better medical culture. But empathy can erode over time as you struggle to balance distance and connection in your relationships with patients. As a result, you may start to devote more time and energy to medical explanations and less to building trust with your patients.
In other words, empathy involves understanding someone’s experiences without necessarily agreeing with their ideas or fixing their problem. It is different from sympathy, where you experience another person’s emotions, which can lead to emotional fatigue and a lack of objectivity. When you communicate empathetically, you not only recognize the emotion of the person you’re speaking with but you welcome it and allow it to develop to improve that person’s wellbeing. Why empathy matters in medicineFrom a patient’s perspective, your ability to understand how they feel builds trust and a sense of safety. Empathy matters because:
Empathy should be actively promoted, supported and cultivated in the medical profession. 4 steps to foster empathetic communicationBecause empathetic communication is based on emotions, it can evolve as a conversation proceeds. This blog post from Boldly, presents some steps for effective empathetic communication:
Putting it into practiceHere are three examples of what you might say to a patient to demonstrate empathy: If your patient is struggling with chronic pain:“Chronic pain is a terrible thing to live with. I would be frustrated, too. I can’t take it away, but I’m going to look after you.” If your patient is afraid of needles:“I know you hate needles. If I could do anything to make this not hurt, I would. I’m going to put some alcohol on your skin and ask you to count to 10 out loud, and I’ll make this as fast as possible.” If you’re in a rush:“If you have another brief question, I can answer it now. If you’d like more time to go over things, let’s schedule another appointment.” TopicsRelationships Policies, standards and best practices
The expression “It shouldn’t have to happen to you to matter to you” has been making the rounds on social media platforms lately. In my opinion, it’s a great way to define empathy, our ability to imagine ourselves in someone else’s shoes and to take action that would help them. It’s a powerful concept, and it lies at the very heart of what it means to be human. Empathy Is Critical in the Clinical Setting In a clinical setting, empathy is critical. An empathetic clinician understands how a diagnosis affects a patient’s mental health and wellbeing. Such a clinician is able to read emotional cues—signs that a patient is being stubborn or resistant or is depressed, for example—that would stand in the way of effective treatment. Empathetic clinicians take these cues into account and become allies of the patient in their health, which leads to better patient outcomes when compared with care provided by non-empathetic clinicians. There is plenty of evidence to support this. When a physician is empathetic, patients offer more detailed histories, they’re more satisfied with their care, they are more adherent with treatment plans, and they are less likely to sue for malpractice. Empathetic physicians also benefit from better health, wellbeing, and job satisfaction. Why Is Empathy Hard to Put Into Practice? If empathy is so important to clinical outcomes, why is it so hard to put into practice? It’s still quite common to hear the old cliché that a certain physician is “a great doctor but has a terrible bedside manner.” There are a lot more of us who are like Dr. House than there are like Marcus Welby, MD, it would seem. Ananth Ravi, PhD—a radiation oncology medical physicist and Chief Science Officer with MOLLI surgical in Toronto, Ontario—has a few ideas about why that may be the case. He believes it starts with a lack of data. “Take an area of interest of mine—breast cancer surgery—as an example,” he says. “We have lots of data on surgical outcomes, but when it comes to patient experience, we have much less data. Nevertheless, we know that procedures like wire-guided localization are awful for patients. They’ve told us so, but that’s dismissed as anecdotal. So, we carry on with those procedures over the wishes of the patients, even when better, wire-free alternatives are available.” There is also a school of thought that a lack of empathy begins in medical school. Various studies have confirmed that by the later years of physician education, student empathy has been eroded significantly. In particular, early clinical experience is singled out as a pivotal point in the erosion of student empathy. The need to defend decisions to attending physicians, for example, can make students more defensive and withdrawn. And a lack of bedside manner can be passed down from generation to generation of physicians through the residency process. How to Break the Cycle If that’s the case, how do we break the cycle? How do we ensure that student physicians keep their empathy intact, so that they and their patients can enjoy the proven benefits of empathetic medicine? “Thinking back to the breast cancer patient example, the most empathetic thing we can do is be advocates for the best, most humane possible care,” says Dr. Ravi. “Rather than subjecting patients to what we know to be less than ideal, we should be advocates for new technologies—like wire-free localization —that are clinically more advantageous and provide a better patient experience. Empathy is more than sympathy, after all; it has to lead to action.” In terms of educating student physicians, Dr. Ravi has some ideas on that score as well. “We need to be better mentors, and we need to encourage students to seek out better mentors,” he says. “If someone has a reputation for having great clinical skill, we send students to learn from them. Well, if a physician has great emotional intelligence, it should be no different. We need to encourage new doctors to study best empathy practices in the same way that they would study clinical practices.” When it comes to patient care, we should be prepared to show them that what matters to them, matters to us too. |