Poll: Can Empathy Be Taught?

Poll: Can Empathy Be Taught?

paywalled: Conveying empathy to hospice family caregivers: Team responses to caregiver empathic communication

Conveying empathy to hospice family caregivers: Team responses to caregiver empathic communication: Publication year: 2012

Source: Patient Education and Counseling

Objective The goal of this study was to explore empathic communication opportunities presented by family caregivers and responses from interdisciplinary hospice team members.

Methods Empathic opportunities and hospice team responses were analyzed from bi-weekly web-based videoconferences between family caregivers and hospice teams. The authors coded the data using the Empathic Communication Coding System (ECCS) and identified themes within and among the coded data.

Results Data analysis identified 270 empathic opportunity-team response sequences. Caregivers expressed statements of emotion and decline most frequently. Two-thirds of the hospice team responses were implicit acknowledgments of caregiver statements and only one-third of the team responses were explicit recognitions of caregiver empathic opportunities.

Conclusion Although hospice team members frequently express emotional concerns with family caregivers during one-on-one visits, there is a need for more empathic communication during team meetings that involve caregivers.

Practice implications Hospice clinicians should devote more time to discussing emotional issues with patients and their families to enhance patient-centered hospice care. Further consideration should be given to training clinicians to empathize with patients and family caregivers.

abstract: Assessing residents' disclosure of adverse events: traditional objective structured clinical examinations versus mixed reality.

Assessing residents' disclosure of adv... [J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI

J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2012 Apr;34(4):367-73.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa ON.

Abstract

Objective: 
The skill of disclosing adverse events is difficult to assess. Assessment of this competency in medical trainees is commonly achieved via the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) using a standardized patient (SP). We hypothesized that the addition of a simulated clinical adverse event prior to the SP encounter could increase trainees' engagement and empathy, thereby improving performance. The objective of this study was to explore whether experiencing a simulated adverse event prior to an SP encounter alters resident performance on a disclosure OSCE.


Conclusion: 
The assessment of adverse event disclosure was not enhanced by the addition of a simulated experience. Study participants reported that the simulation did not provide the contextual information required to elicit empathy and a sense of being emotionally invested in the adverse event.

Empathy - ASCO Connection -Physician BlogView - ASCO Connection Blogs - Robert Miller, MD

Note: physician blog regarding NY Times article and empathy. (Many oncologists have probably been following Dr. Peter Bach’s moving and beautifully written series, recently concluded in the New York Times)


......Hearing the patient’s voice directly without health provider filtering is a small step toward minimizing traditional barriers to empathy. And I would have to believe that appreciating the psychosocial aspects of the patient’s cancer experience is the area that needs the most work for providers. I know that for my own practice and interactions with patients, I am probably decent at understanding physical toxicities – not that I can’t do a better job any given day. But I am sure I do far less well at understanding the true impact their cancer has on the things that I don’t see, like what happens when they go home and try to deal with the pressures of child care, trying to function at work while battling treatment-related fatigue, and agonizing over the financial impact of their cancer on their daily lives........