Year: 2019
Type: review
Abstract: Empathy in medicine is often neglected due to various constraints imposed on the physician. Despite empathy being proven as beneficial to the patient health and outcomes, patients remain unsatisfied with the healthcare system and usually, in turn, their physicians. To instill empathetic patient-physician relationships, medical training has for some time focused on cognitive-behavioral empathy. This is taught through cognitive and behavioral skills, with expressions such as "I understand how you feel". Naturally, these skills are often forced and feel disingenuous. Hence, a cultural shift in medicine is required to effectively communicate the importance of empathy: a shift that cultivates altruistic properties most healthcare professionals bring to medicine in the first place.
Source: Cureus
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.6175
Institution: Desert Regional Medical Center
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2986002131