Empathy

"Being a good doctor requires an understanding of people, not just science."

Clinical empathy is an essential but often overlooked skill. Unlike sympathy, which is defined as feeling sorry for another person, clinical empathy is the ability to stand in a patient’s shoes and to convey an understanding of the patient’s situation as well as the desire to help. Clinical empathy was once dismissively known as “good bedside manner” and traditionally regarded as far less important than technical acumen. But a number of studies in the past decade has found that it is no mere frill. Increasingly, empathy is considered essential to establishing trust, the foundation of a good doctor-patient relationship. Studies have linked empathy to greater patient satisfaction, better outcomes, decreased physician burnout, and a lower risk of malpractice suits and errors. 

Why might empathy fail in our day-to-day practice? (despite our best intentions)
When we are...
- tired
- busy
- seeing your last patient on a 12 hr shift
- struggling with workplace conflict
- recently had a bad outcome
- having relationship troubles
- feeling depressed
It is important here to mention that it does not mean that we are evil or bad people when we are not empathetic. 
As you can see, there are many reasons why our empathy quotient may vary from day to day! 
We are but only human after all.

We may be able to teach empathy, but if we at least have an awareness of the effect of our empathy on our patient interactions perhaps we will all be more satisfied. 

A few tips to keep in mind when interacting with patients
1. Sit down when talking to patients.

• we may be busy, but it gives the impression to the patient that we care and have time for them (however little it may be!)
• I know...where to find a chair...

2. Listen to your patients. 

• Give them some uninterrupted talking time.
  
• One study found that, on average, doctors interrupt patients within 18 seconds of their opening statement! 
  
• Further research shows that if you give a patient 1-2 minutes to talk before you interrupt them, the patients experience a more satisfying consultation and consultations will actually be shorter! 
  
• Spend that extra 1-2 minutes to listen before you interrupt...

3. Empathy checklist - this is what patients care about

• are you listening to me?
  
• do you really care?
  
• do you understand me?
  
• are you going 'to get it right'?
  
• what will happen to me next?
  

Casey Parker also talks about getting the VIBE from your patient consultation, and the ‘einfühlung’ - if you have 25 minutes to spare, listen to the podcast. 

Empathy is real. 
We should harness it in our practice.

References
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/how-to-teach-doctors-empathy/387784/
http://intensivecarenetwork.com/hard-lessons-learned-parker/
​http://dontforgetthebubbles.com/the-hidden-curriculum-empathy/​