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11 Tips To Promote Empathy as a Health Care Professional

11 Tips To Promote Empathy as a Health Care Professional

Veronika
August 10, 2022
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Empathy represents a person’s ability to understand and relate to another person’s emotions and feelings. It’s a vital skill, especially in health care where you may be navigating health issues and questions that prioritize a patient’s emotions. Expressing empathy can help build patient trust, calm anxiety and improve health outcomes. In this article, we explain what empathy in health care is and why it’s important and offer tips for improving your skills in this area.

What is empathy in health care?

In general, empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. In health care, empathy is the recognition and validation of a patient’s fear, anxiety, pain and worry. It is the ability to understand patients’ feelings and facilitate more accurate diagnoses and caring treatment. Health care professionals such as doctors, surgeons, nurses, specialists, physician assistants and technicians employ empathy throughout their workdays. 

Being empathic involves verbal reassurance as well as interpreting body language and asking questions in response to emotional cues. Medical professionals apply these skills to every aspect of patient care such as gathering patient intake forms, considering room decor, recording patient history, taking notes and explaining treatment plans.

Why is empathy in health care important?

Empathy is a key component in developing a strong and trusting relationship between patients and their health care providers. Improving this trust increases patient loyalty and communication, which can lead to more accurate diagnoses and better treatment plans and health outcomes. 

Empathy extends far beyond a patient’s medical history, signs and symptoms to encompass a connection and understanding that includes the patient’s mind, body and soul. Expressing empathy advances humanism in health care. Humanistic providers care “about” their patients as much as they care “for” them. They understand that compassion can be a powerful catalyst for healing. 

There is a a direct correlation between empathetic communication on behalf of medical providers and the overall health outcomes of their patients. Patients want to know they are receiving the very best care, and this is best conveyed when their care team is empathetic and compassionate.

From a business sense, a strong sense of empathy in your interactions with patients is necessary to build a successful private practice. Physician empathy is a key driver of patient satisfaction. 

Benefits of empathetic health care

Here are some benefits of practicing empathy when interacting with patients:

Builds trusting relationships

One benefit of practicing empathetic health care is its positive impact on patient relationships. When doctors, nurses, specialists and other medical professionals attempt to connect with their patients, they often create a trusting bond. This bond improves patient loyalty, which is important for the continuity of a person’s health care. It’s also valuable because a patient is more likely to share private information regarding their physical, mental or emotional health concerns if they trust the person with whom they’re speaking.

Increases adherence to treatment plans

Empathetic health care typically requires compassionate communication that prioritizes a patient’s emotions. It also involves the way they explain a diagnosis or treatment plan. By using active listening and remaining attentive to body language, providers are more likely to notice a person’s hesitancy or uncertainty regarding medical advice. An empathetic provider will use those cues to start a dialogue and create an outcome that improves adherence to medications, lifestyle suggestions and any other elements of a treatment plan.

Improves a patient’s experience

By designing a system in which empathy is a priority, health care providers improve their patients’ overall experience. This helps ensure the longevity and effectiveness of a patient-doctor relationship and helps further develop a sense of trust and honesty. A positive experience can also improve the patient’s emotional health, symptoms, physiologic responses and pain levels.

Decreases incidents of potential malpractice

Medical malpractice often results from a lack of professionalism and accuracy in patient care. By engaging in empathetic communication and actions, health care professionals strengthen connections with their patients. This can often lead to honest conversations with patients to help generate more accurate diagnoses and better management conditions. This is likely to reduce errors and potential malpractice cases within a medical workplace.

Improves overall patient outcomes

The provider-patient connection is crucial in building loyalty, identifying private information, reducing the risk of misdiagnoses and improving compliance with medical advice. The combination of these elements contributes to a significant improvement in overall health outcomes. In return, good outcomes help medical professionals feel they’ve done their job well, which helps prevent physician burnout.

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