Thursday, April 19, 2012

Teaching Empathy In Health Care

As a member of the medical profession, it is painful to see a progressive decline in empathy and conscientiousness in recent years among healthcare providers especially among new doctors. Medicine is a service career and what the patients need are compassionate, conscientious and caring doctors who will be role models for all other health care providers. The noble dictum of service above self  seems to have been replaced by the new order of self first before others.  This is the major motivation why I have been teaching Medical Ethics for the last 9 years.

But how does one teach empathy? It is easier with children who with help from parents and teachers,  can develop this skill early and more naturally. With adults, it is a different ballgame.  Empathy is both cognitive and affective, innate and developed.  It is defined as the action of understanding and vicariously experiencing the feelings, motives, and thoughts of another person without explicit verbal communication. It is an active process and it calls upon sensitivity to subtle communications, imagination, and access to one one’s own past emotional experiences.  I believe that all people have empathy but in different degrees.  Studies suggest that one way to develop stronger empathic skills in students of  health courses is through role-playing and communication skills training (listening, observation, reflection, body language).   In the medical school where I teach, we have a formal curriculum from first to third year and an informal curriculum for the clerkship year.  My team and I try to be good role models to our students, letting them feel our concern for them.  But oftentimes the problem also lies in the fact that many residents and consultants don’t often show the kind of attitude that medical students need to see and emulate.  Attitudes and qualities like sensitivity to patients, respect for persons, interest and time invested in the doctor-patient relationship when observed by medical students and residents in training from their clinical mentors can reinforce what we try to teach in theory.  It would even be better if our students are exposed to an environment of caring during their time in medical school, where  they are treated with respect and concern by their teachers. By experiencing empathy while they are students, they as MD’s will give back to their patients not only empathy but kindness and conscientiousness as well.

USLS Medicine Class 2013
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, in her book Random Acts of Kindness, wrote “The world is in desperate need of human beings whose own level of growth is sufficient to enable them to learn to live and work with others cooperatively and lovingly; to care for others—not for what those others can do for you or for what they think of you, but rather in terms of what you can do for them.”

16 comments:

  1. We do need caring people in the clinics and hospitals!

    By hearing my dentist say "It's OK, dahan dahan lang.." makes me calm my nerves!

    I love it too when nurses would say pacifying words and words of encouragement and kindness.. makes one feel a lot better already!

    Keep up the good work doc! I do have a post about doctors, you may want to check it out!

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  2. I could honestly relate with your post. My sister seems to be the most UN-emphatic doctor that I know. I never really understand why she became like that. But when she tells stories about her work environment, I think that's where it's coming from.

    I hope you could continue teaching Medical Ethics for a long time and somehow curtail the indifference and apathy in the medical world.

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    1. when one works in a government hospital where the number of patients are really huge, empathy flies out the window. Doctors are also human and during 24 hours duty, fatigue sets in by the 10th hour. That is why I believe duty hours for doctors should be limited within 12-16 hours. But that needs a paradigm shift and a future post :) Basically what your sister needs to do is better time management and to remind herself 24/7 why she wanted to be a doctor.

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  3. Just want to thank you for teaching empathy to soon-to-be medical professionals.. we really need a lot of those in our health care industry.. and I do hope that they will practice this learning wholeheartedly. My father would've benefited from such care if people then cared more for his health over our money. My father's condition worsened waiting to be admitted because we had no money for hospitalization then. Life.

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    1. I am so sorry to hear that Mai. And yes, I have made this my life's advocacy.

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  4. Empathy is very important in all aspects of life. I remember it was included in one of my trainings back when I was still in sales. And now that I am in a whole new world of fashion, it is also needed when having a client meet. Thank you so much for teaching this to our new and future nurses and doctors. =)

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  5. I really appreciate those who really do their best to make every medical procedure easier for their patients. Like someone who extracted blood from me, he had this technique of asking my birthday, then telling me that everything is going to be alright. True enough, hindi ako kinabahan masyado noong kinuhanan ako ng blood. That's a great example of empathy in action. :)

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  6. Empathy is really needed. I hated the doctors and student nurses when my mom was in the ICU they were all inside the ICU, talking at the same time and gathering around my mom I bet my Mom died because of those irresponsible teachers and doctors who allowed them inside the ICU, they were playing loud music and were talking loudly when in fact we are a paying patient I was so ignorant that time. I do not know of our rights. I wish karma to trample upon them and wipe them out of existence.

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  7. There should be empathy especially if you are in a industry who offer or provide service.

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  8. Of all the industries, I think health care should be #1 when it comes to empathy. The sick people are in pain and are scared. It's disheartening to see that some health care professionals treat patients callously and even abusively sometimes (e.g. the abuse cases in retirement homes in US). Anyway, keep up the good work. It's good to know that there are still medical professionals who are really concerned with giving the best of service to patients.

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  9. I had a most horrible experience with a male doctor once who aside from handling me roughly, laughed at me when he found out what my condition was. I would give him a big fat 0 for empathy. :(

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  10. Just like call center agents who can empathize with their callers, I believe that health care professionals should do the same to ensure that their patients would feel that they are well taken care of. ^_^

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  11. I haven't encountered an ill-mannered healthcare professional yet. Ummm except for this one dentist who, i felt, shortchanged me while doing oral prophylaxis on me. I felt she didn't really do proper cleaning :( But that's just one person; in general, I still feel well taken care of by the healthcare professionals I encounter.
    Glad to see people who are keen on maintaining the innate caring characteristics of those in the medical professions. Keep up the good work, Doc! :)

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  12. I agree and it's sad to know that this has become a dilemma among hospitals. I've heard lots of complain that has reached its toll about doctors, nurses and even hospital staff's attitudes toward their patients. Especially to those who aren't able to pay. I hope that incoming professionals in this career will get to read this post.

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  13. I have seen lots of Doctors without empathy .Doctors just treat you for the sake of money .I have been confined to the hospital on Feb for pneumonia and I complained right in front of the Doctor about his attitude ,he is always in hurry and do not expalin exactly what is going on or what are the medicine he has given to patients.I know about patients right and we deserve to be treated right.

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  14. I've experienced unpleasant treatment by a female doctor.
    An OB-GYNE in particular who told me that I just have to bear
    with the pain in my lower abdomen or take pain reliever instead.
    It's not what her advise made me very disappointed by the way she said it.
    I was so lucky to find another OB who treated me more than her patient.

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Thank you for your comments.