THE DOUBLE EDGED SWORD OF EMPATHY

Empathy and empaths have been two major Buzzwords that have been floating around heavily for the past two decades all across social media. Though they both have clear dictionary meanings, their applications and perception have led to grey areas in the meaning of these words. Additionally, the level of empathy us humans are expected to demonstrate in different situations have been scrutinised and commented on a lot, to the point where people find themselves walking on a fine line as to how much or little empathy they should have and display.

Empathy is undoubtedly a desirable and redeeming quality that makes humans better connectors, communicators and improve our relatability towards others. Healthcare workers in particular who work with the most vulnerable members of society are expected to have this as one of their top core qualities in order to be good at their jobs. Even as a bookings agent at my radiology job, I am expected to show compassion and empathy to all the patients I communicate with, I am evaluated for it every week and it is one of the company's top four values. What makes it more challenging for me is that since my communication with them is never in person, my body language, tonality and pace of voice have to be at their A game. However, over the years, this trait has shown a significant decline when healthcare professionals have interacted with patients. This could be due to a myriad of reasons such as working conditions, intensity and pressure of their jobs, entitled and disrespectful patients and not getting enough support in the workplace. What was once their life's calling has now turned into a mechanical treadmill of administrative tasks, standard diagnostic and treatment work and going through the daily motions with immense stress and weight on their shoulders.

I remember in one of my favourite Hindi movies where the lead actor goes to medical school, the Dean of the School mentions in his orientation speech that a doctor's job is to diagnose and treat a patient's ailment, not understand or feel it, which goes against everything that empathy stands for. According to him, this leads to unhealthy attachments between healthcare workers and patients which eventually turns into their weakness and incompetency. Yet lack of empathy from healthcare professionals is the most common complaint I hear from my patients, family and friends and is leading to them losing faith in the system altogether. I frequently get told they don't like dealing with this GP, Specialist, Allied Health Worker, Mental Health professional etc as they don't look them in the eye, take the time or effort to actively listen and understand their patient's needs and challenges. Their consulting sessions is more about incessant note taking, script and referral writing, barrage of questions and in most cases recommendations that have been beaten to death in the past. In addition, most of their treatment approaches are regurgitated from textbooks and outdated theories, and very few workers have personally experienced the challenges their patients do and survived it to be able to give recommendations based on first hand life experience. This is by no means discrediting the academic and professional hard work their roles entail but their ability to deeply and meaningfully connect with their patients is something that has been missing heavily over the last few years.

Some of my key pointers to develop better empathy and compassion towards patients are :

• Actively listen and reiterate what patients say
• Acknowledge, affirm understand what was being communicated to them, clarify information if necessary
• Give recommendations, options and suggestions tactfully than order or impose any form of biases
• Don't rush your consultation, make the most of the time allocated
• Mastering body language is crucial, particularly eye contact, posture, pace and tone of voice, facial expressions and not letting screens or not taking distract heavily
• Limit on questions being asked, especially if they are repetitive or irrelevant
• Refrain from giving unsolicited advise or imposing your opinions on patients’ life choices

Obviously all of this has to be done within the framework of professional and ethical boundaries, but a small step in this direction could go a long way in better patient-healthcare worker rapport, trust, interactions and communication.

If you work in a clinical role in the healthcare industry and would like to learn more about how to better connect and communicate empathetically with your clients / patients, book a complimentary 30 minute discovery call with me to see how I can best support you

https://calendly.com/ramkumar-shweta/30min

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