During the past decade, some health care businesses have begun to experiment with new ways to keep people healthier and out of the hospital by improving the relationships between medical professionals and patients.
This push for more empathetic care springs from a change in how health care providers get paid. Keeping people healthy can be more lucrative than treating sick people.
The Penn Center for Community Health Workers, based in West Philadelphia, hires and trains its staff to work with people in their homes and neighborhoods to help patients figure out how to deal with their health problems. To build strong connections quickly, the Center looks to match patients who cycle in out and out the hospital — often related to medical illness, poverty and mental health concerns — with community health workers from similar upbringings. The belief is the more these front-line workers have in common with their patients, the more patients will trust them.
Dr. Rushaniya Khairova, a psychiatrist, talks about the power of empathy in patient care and overcoming the stigma of mental health. Dr. Khairova has extensive experience in women’s reproductive mental health. She is the director of the SLUCare Women's Reproductive Health Clinic, where she treats patients with mood and anxiety disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period, using medications as well as psychotherapy.
Empathy is widely recognised as an important element of medical practice contributing to patient outcomes and satisfaction. It is also an important element of collaborative work in a healthcare team.
However, there is evidence to suggest that empathy towards patients declines over time, particularly in surgical specialities. There is little qualitative research on this decline in surgical trainees, particularly in the UK.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore how trainee surgeons experience empathy over the course of their career, both towards patients and colleagues and how they perceive it in others.
Abstract The “hidden curriculum” in medical school includes a stressful work environment, un-empathic role models, and prioritisation of biomedical knowledge. It can provoke anxiety and cause medical students to adapt by becoming cynical, distanced and less empathic. Lower empathy, in turn, has been shown to harm patients as well as practitioners.
Fortunately, evidence-based interventions can counteract the empathy dampening effects of the hidden curriculum. These include early exposure to real patients, providing students with real-world experiences, training role models, assessing empathy training, increasing the focus on the biopsychosocial model of disease, and enhanced wellbeing education.
Here, we provide an overview of these interventions. Taken together, they can bring about an “empathic hidden curriculum” which can reverse the decline in medical student empathy.
In a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, where technology and artificial intelligence are making significant strides in improving patient care and reducing administrative tasks, the importance of human connection and empathy in the healing process cannot be overstated. A heartwarming story that beautifully encapsulates this sentiment is the journey of mutual healing and support between a patient and a doctor.
The Essential Role of Human Connection and Empathy in Healing
These heartwarming stories underscore the crucial role of human connection and empathy in healthcare. They serve as a reminder that while advancements in technology and medicine are crucial, the human element remains irreplaceable. The healing journey is often a shared one, and it is through empathy, connection, and mutual support that both patients and doctors can find solace, strength, and ultimately, healing.
Abstract Background: Practitioners who deliver enhanced empathy may improve patient satisfaction with care. Patient satisfaction is associated with positive patient outcomes ranging from medication adherence to survival.
Purpose: To evaluate the effect of health care practitioner empathy on patient satisfaction, using a systematic review of randomized trials.
Conclusion:
Various empathy interventions have been studied to improve patient satisfaction. Development, testing, and reporting of high-quality studies within well-defined contexts is needed to optimize empathy interventions that increase patient satisfaction.
Health care practitioner empathy interventions seem to improve patient satisfaction, but inadequate reporting hinders the ability to draw definitive conclusions relating to the overall effect size, according to a review published online Jan. 30 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Leila Keshtkar, Ph.D., from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of randomized trials to examine the effect of health care practitioner empathy on patient satisfaction. The analysis included 14 randomized trials with 80 practitioners and 1,986 patients.
Empathy in Healthcare: More than a Soft Skill Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, is a vital skill in healthcare. It extends beyond simple compassion, allowing healthcare professionals to understand patients’ experiences from their perspective. It forms the foundation of a patient-centered approach, promoting better communication, fostering trust, and ultimately improving patient outcomes. Despite its significance, empathy is often overlooked in medical education, overshadowed by the technical and scientific aspects of healthcare.
Health care practitioner empathy interventions seem to improve patient satisfaction, but inadequate reporting hinders the ability to draw definitive conclusions relating to the overall effect size, according to a review published online Jan. 30 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Leila Keshtkar, Ph.D., from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of randomized trials to examine the effect of health care practitioner empathy on patient satisfaction. The analysis included 14 randomized trials with 80 practitioners and 1,986 patients.
Brain health refers to the state of a person’s brain function across various domains, including cognitive, behavioral and motor functions. Healthy brains are associated with better individual health, increased creativity, and enhanced productivity. A person’s brain health is intricately connected to personal, social and environmental factors. Racial, ethnic, and social disparities affect brain health and on the global scale these disparities within and between regions present a hurdle to brain health.
To overcome global disparities, greater collaboration between practitioners and healthcare providers and the people they serve is essential. This requires cultural humility driven by empathy. Empathy is a core prosocial value, a cognitive-emotional skill that helps us understand ourselves and others.
Objectives: Being met with empathy increases information sharing, treatment coherence, and helps patients to recover faster. However, we do not know how the content of the conversation about disease progression, new treatments, or other issues concerning serious illness affects patients' perceptions of the physician's empathy, and thus, the quality of the conversation. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that patients will rate their physician lower following a "bad news" consultation using the consultation and relational empathy (CARE) measure.
The mission of the Center for Empathy in Medicine at the Institute for Innovations in Medical Education is to develop and implement innovative curriculum for enhancing and supporting empathy throughout our healthcare system and especially in undergraduate and graduate medical education.
The center’s goals are to develop a workforce of expert educators who can teach and assess empathy, establish a robust research program to evaluate the impact of these efforts, and define best practices in empathy education within an academic health center. The center works in close partnership with the Empathy Project.
The Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA is pleased to present Semel Grand Rounds, our weekly educational conference featuring presentations on evidence-based clinical practices, cutting-edge insights from neuroscience, and the role of society in shaping mental health.
Dr. Helen Riess is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of Empathy Research and Training in the Psychotherapy Research Group at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is also Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Empathetics, a company that provides science-based empathy and interpersonal skills training for healthcare professionals. Her research focuses on improving empathy and relational skills in physicians.
Who is the course for: Leaders in healthcare education with an interest in developing, improving and delivering empathy-focussed training in undergraduate and postgraduate curricula.
This innovative and pioneering training course provides clinicians, educators and academics with the skills needed to effectively teach empathy to healthcare students and practitioners. In addition, attendees will learn to support others to recognise the barriers and challenges to embedding empathy across the systems they work in, and to develop effective strategies for overcoming them.
Aims of the course
Explore different educational models for teaching empathy.
Identify and discuss issues of pedagogy, curriculum design, development and evaluation.
Enable the embedding of empathic healthcare education within your institution.
Extend and advance participants’ existing critical appraisal and teaching skills.
Develop understanding of the components of an effective curriculum for empathic
Abstract The “hidden curriculum” in medical school includes a stressful work environment, un-empathic role models, and prioritisation of biomedical knowledge. It can provoke anxiety and cause medical students to adapt by becoming cynical, distanced and less empathic. Lower empathy, in turn, has been shown to harm patients as well as practitioners.
Fortunately, evidence-based interventions can counteract the empathy dampening effects of the hidden curriculum. These include early exposure to real patients, providing students with real-world experiences, training role models, assessing empathy training, increasing the focus on the biopsychosocial model of disease, and enhanced wellbeing education.
Here, we provide an overview of these interventions. Taken together, they can bring about an “empathic hidden curriculum” which can reverse the decline in medical student empathy.
A review of 14 studies has found that empathetic care is associated with improved patient satisfaction, a metric linked to important implications for patient outcomes. However, strong conclusions were limited by quality and applicability of evidence. The review is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Increased patient satisfaction is associated with improved survival after myocardial infarction; reduced hospital readmission; higher general quality of care; better patient safety; and other outcomes. It has also been reported to improve medication adherence. Hospital reimbursement is also often linked to patient satisfaction scores. Research on health care practitioner empathy—which is commonly taken to involve understanding, expressing understanding, and therapeutic action—may provide important insights for improving the metric of patient satisfaction.
Background: The aim of the study was to measure empathy in healthcare professionals in Singapore and to compare the scores between the different professions: doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals.
Methods: An online survey questionnaire was conducted using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) from July 2019 to January 2020. The total JSE score was calculated and compared among the different groups. Multiple linear regression was performed to assess predictors of total empathy scores for groups with statistically lower scores.
Conclusion: Nurses in Singapore had significantly lower empathy scores compared to doctors and allied health professionals. Further research on the underlying causes should be undertaken and measures to improve empathy among Singapore nursing staff should be explored and implemented.
Empathic care in medicine is associated with greater patient satisfaction, a new review has found.
“Patient satisfaction” is more than a fluffy metric that measures how satisfied “customers” are. Increased patient satisfaction is associated with, among other things, improved survival after heart attacks, a lower risk of being readmitted to hospital, higher general quality of care and better patient safety.
Empathic care is also associated with patients taking their drugs as prescribed, which itself improves patient outcomes.
How do you know what the people you lead really care about? How do you help them to give their all to the enterprise? Jodi Halpern of the University of California, Berkeley, draws from her medical experience to explain how empathic curiosity can help in key areas of leadership.
Empathic care in medicine is associated with greater patient satisfaction, a new review has found.
“Patient satisfaction” is more than a fluffy metric that measures how satisfied “customers” are. Increased patient satisfaction is associated with, among other things, improved survival after heart attacks, a lower risk of being readmitted to hospital, higher general quality of care and better patient safety.
Empathic care is also associated with patients taking their drugs as prescribed, which itself improves patient outcomes.
BY JAMIL ZAKI In March 2023, Fortune ran a cover story titled “Efficiency is in. Is empathy out?” The first half of the quippy title referred to Mark Zuckerberg, who had recently declared that his company, Meta, would be entering a “year of efficiency.” As 2023 winds down, we can see what he meant.
The tech sector alone shed nearly a quarter of a million jobs. People who were spared nonetheless lost a bevy of perks, from egg freezing services to free lunches. Delta employees even lost access to their own lounges while traveling for work.
This study aims to investigate the behavioral and neurophysiological changes accompanying the empathy for pain among individuals with insomnia in nonclinical samples, which has been scarcely explored in the existing literature despite the deleterious effects of sleep disturbance on social behavior, and interactions had been well-documented.
Avoiding fatal patient safety failures requires “a more empathetic and collaborative approach from doctors”, the UK’s parliamentary and health service ombudsman, Rob Behrens, recently argued in The Times....
Evidence supports the idea that more empathy in hospitals and clinics – commonly taken to involve understanding and taking action – would reduce many persistent problems with patient care. As well as reducing patient complaints and medical errors, clinical trials have shown that if a healthcare professional shows empathy it can reduce pain (both chronic and acute) and post-operative morphine use, and improve immunity in post-operative patients.
According to the National Health Service (NHS), an estimated one in four adults in the UK experiences a mental health problem each year. This sobering statistic underscores the urgent need for dedicated, trained professionals in the field of mental healthcare. However, for those passionate about making a difference, the mental health sector presents a fulfilling and impactful career opportunity.
A career in mental health can span several disciplines, including psychiatry, psychology, nursing, social work, counselling, and more. As Professor Louis Appleby of the University of Manchester once said, "A mental health career is an opportunity to change lives - not just patients', but also your own." Profound, isn't it?
Center for Empathy in Medicine The mission of the Center for Empathy in Medicine at the Institute for Innovations in Medical Education is to develop and implement innovative curriculum for enhancing and supporting empathy throughout our healthcare system and especially in undergraduate and graduate medical education. The center’s goals are to develop a workforce of expert educators who can teach and assess empathy, establish a robust research program to evaluate the impact of these efforts, and define best practices in empathy education within an academic health center. The center works in close partnership with the Empathy Project. Opens in a new tab.
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