14 DAY TRIAL // In a new series of investigations, experts have revealed that healthcare professionals who exhibit small displays of empathy to the people they are treating are having a very positive effect on the outcome of the overall treatment.
It was found that patients who benefit from this type of treatment tend to report increased satisfaction with the medical act, as well as more motivation to adhere to long-term medication plans. Another result is that the number of malpractice complaints drop significantly.
Scientists have found that, in clinical practices, healthcare experts do no often engage in displays of empathy, even if that is one of the core values on which the field medicine was founded.
For example, in a recent survey, oncologists were found to be empathic with their patients in only 22 percent of the moments that had been deemed opportunities to do so. The study was conducted by video-recording the doctors as they spoke to their patients.
In a different investigation, where healthcare professionals were handling lung cancer patients, the doctors were only found to detect and respond to 11 percent of all empathic opportunities, which is a very small percentage considering the severity of this disease.
“Empathy is the ability to understand another’s experience, to communicate and confirm that understanding with the other person and to then act in a helpful manner,” Dr. Robert Buckman says.
“Despite some overlap with other compassionate responses, particularly sympathy, empathy is distinct,” he and his team write in a paper appearing in the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).
Lately, scientists have been proposing that empathy be taught and learned in medical school. It is a very valuable tool for the doctor-patient relationship, and it can be acquired by individuals who don't necessarily display it naturally.
“Clinical empathy is an essential medical skill that can be taught and improved, thereby producing changes in physician behavior and patient outcomes,” Buckman says.
“Our profession now needs to incorporate the teaching of clinical empathy more widely into clinical practice at all levels beginning with the selection of candidates for medical school,” the authors add.
“The behavioral aspects of empathy – the empathic response – can be assessed and integrated into medical schools’ core communication skills training,” they conclude, quoted by PsychCentral.