Doctors need to empathize than to be compassionate for better results : Study
A new study says that doctors need to develop a broader skill of empathy to imagine the patient's experience while undergoing treatment, rather than being compassionate and sympathetic.
According to U.S. researchers, developing a broader skill of empathy is a more realistic goal for doctors than urging them to be more compassionate.
"Doctors are at risk not only of personal distress but eventually burnout if their feelings of sympathy and compassion for patients override the more nuanced stance of empathy," said Dr David Jeffrey from the Centre for Population Health Sciences in Edinburgh.
"Doctors need to imagine being the patient undergoing the patient's experience, rather than imagining themselves undergoing the patient's experience. This is more sophisticated approach and requires mental flexibility, an ability to regulate one's emotions and to suppress one's own perspective in the patient's interests," Jeffrey added.
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