Meaning of clinical empathy: Perspectives of Healthcare workers and patients

A GERI funded research project investigating the meaning of clinical empathy in the local multi-cultural setting was recently published in BMJ Open (see link at the end of article).

The study team embarked on this study as the definition of empathy was found to be lacking in the local clinical context and clinicians and researchers in the team wanted to address this gap.

As shared by Dr. Laurence Tan, Adjunct Faculty Member, GERI, who is the study's principal investigator, "The term 'clinical empathy' was used to describe empathy in the clinical setting. We were particularly interested in the skills needed to balance the need for clinical empathy and professional boundaries. We also examined both the positive and detrimental effect of empathy on patients and the healthcare workers,".

The study is the first of its kind to systematically review the collective views of doctors, nurses, medical and nursing students and patients on clinical empathy. It employed a grounded theory approach with 14 focus groups encompassing 69 participants who came from different cultural backgrounds.

The study team managed to understand what clinical empathy means to doctors, nurses, students, allied health and students and findings challenged the common definition of clinical empathy as a cognitive process with emotional detachment. With support from data, they team defined clinical empathy as 'a sense of connection between the healthcare worker and the patient as a result of perspective taking arising from imaginative, affective and cognitive processes, which are expressed through behaviours and good communication skills that convey genuine concern'.

Dr. Tan, who is also a Consultant, Geriatric Medicine, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, remarked on the findings, "Empathy is essential because empathetic behavior helps improve patient outcomes. We are focused on developing a more holistic and multidimensional definition of clinical empathy. This will help future education and research efforts so that clinical empathy can be more effectively used."

To find out more about the paper please click on the link below:
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmjopen-2020-045224.