Is Empathy A Skill?
I just started a new class this quarter. It is titled understanding Your Patient and I really love it after only having it a week so far. It claims to be able to teach us new and ignorant doctors how to empathize with our patients. As far as I know this is revolutionary in the medical curriculum. I don't think most schools teach it. In this class we will learn to see things from the patients point of view, to step into their shoes and truly understand their situation. We will also learn to give bad news, to take into account cultural differences, and how to motivate a patient to take charge of his/her own health.
I am so glad that at least one medical school is teaching this. I believe that the mentality in the past has been to learn this by the trial by error method in rotations and residency. What my school is doing is getting us to think about patient interaction before we ever see one. This will hopefully help train us how to properly and efficiently talk to patients, and to understand why it might be hard for a patient to listen to our instructions.
The teachers keep saying something to us that is really starting to hit me. They say "sure you are all healthy now, but one day you will need a doctor too." They assume that we have not been in circumstances where we are under the long term care of a doctor. The reason this is surprising to me is not that I will one day be a patient, believe me I have seen my share of doctors already in my life, but that some of my classmates have not ever really been sick. Since I practically grew up in a doctor's office because I was sick so much I know exactly what it feels like to be a patient, to try and get doctor's to understand my situation, and I have felt the frustrations of the healthcare system. I am very glad that my school is attempting to teach those who don't know what it feels like to be a patient how to empathize with patients.
So, can empathy be taught as a skill? Or is it an inherent trait that some people have and others don't? I guess I will see through taking this class, although I think we all have the capacity to empathize but that all people may not realize how to do it.
I am so glad that at least one medical school is teaching this. I believe that the mentality in the past has been to learn this by the trial by error method in rotations and residency. What my school is doing is getting us to think about patient interaction before we ever see one. This will hopefully help train us how to properly and efficiently talk to patients, and to understand why it might be hard for a patient to listen to our instructions.
The teachers keep saying something to us that is really starting to hit me. They say "sure you are all healthy now, but one day you will need a doctor too." They assume that we have not been in circumstances where we are under the long term care of a doctor. The reason this is surprising to me is not that I will one day be a patient, believe me I have seen my share of doctors already in my life, but that some of my classmates have not ever really been sick. Since I practically grew up in a doctor's office because I was sick so much I know exactly what it feels like to be a patient, to try and get doctor's to understand my situation, and I have felt the frustrations of the healthcare system. I am very glad that my school is attempting to teach those who don't know what it feels like to be a patient how to empathize with patients.
So, can empathy be taught as a skill? Or is it an inherent trait that some people have and others don't? I guess I will see through taking this class, although I think we all have the capacity to empathize but that all people may not realize how to do it.
posted by Rikki Suzanne @ 9:09 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:28 PM,
Sarah said…
That is really interesting. I am sure nothing can really prepare you for some of the news you will have to deliver but at least you have a place to start!
When mom was sick we sure had some really great doctors and some that were horrible and that opinion is completely based on their ability to talk to us and not at us! It really does make a difference!
Good Luck
At 9:54 PM,
Memo's Mind said…
I totally think that there are some that will learn to be empathetic...and then there are some that will truly excel at it. Sure...anyone can get an idea of how to nicely give someone bad news...hell, I can do that. But to truly help put someone at ease or completely explain it so that they grasp exactly what is happening to them, or a loved one...that is a gift! You've got it...you make Beth and Sarah think you like them!
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