When we get sick we all want to get better quick. We feel bad and sick and want people to understand our misery. We go and see doctors and with their help the ailment gets taken care of. In the process sometimes when we have friendly doctors and nurses in the hospital, it becomes easy to deal with the sickness. Other times we feel enormous burden because the staff of the hospital did not treat us with empathy.
So what is empathy? And is it same as sympathy?. Let us look into these two concepts and see how it affects the way patients feel about their doctors and nurses. We also see what is meant by compassion and also altruism, and also see if they are related concepts or different.
Let us understand through different scenarios.
- A young bike rider comes to the Emergency Department after getting involved in an accident. He has multiple injuries and has the open fracture of the shin bone, the tibia. While providing the care the nurse tells him “Sir! I have told you , do not move your leg, because it is making it difficult for the me to clean the wound”.
- The same person tried his best not to move the leg, and finally winces with pain. Now the nurse tell him “Sir am sorry that you have to deal with so much pain, but for your own good, let me clean it well, so it won’t get infected”.
- Another nurse is treating a different patient with about the same injuries. She comes to patient and says “Sir I know you are in extreme pain, and it will be harder for you go through the cleaning of wound. I will give you something to ease your pain, and very gently will clean the wound. I promise to stop if it becomes unbearable”.
- A doctor sees a patient in clinic. His blood sugar is uncontrolled and his vision is blurred. The doctor asked if his prescription was properly followed. The patient explains that he is on limited income and that due to family situation, he was not able to buy his diabetes medications. Doctor tells him that it is not a responsible behavior as he needs to be well to earn his living, and that he should be compliant with his medications.
We can see that the scenarios can be endless, and that the responses of the care provider can create a huge impact. So the nurse or the doctor or any other person caring for the patients need to understand how to react. Showing sympathy, or compassion or empathy is something that is considered a human trait, but is also present in animals, and is considered a trainable attribute. This means that anyone can learn how to show empathy or compassion.
Looking through the meanings of these words are also important. Following is the dictionary meanings from Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries.
Sympathy: Feeling of pity and sorrow for someone else misfortune.
Empathy: Ability to understand and share the feelings of others.
Altruism: Disinterested and selfless concern for the wellbeing of others.
Compassion: Sympathetic pity and concern for the suffering or misfortune of the other.
So we could see that all these definitions are closely related emotions or feelings. We all know that the most human relations are emotion based, and in order for us to build these relationships, the emotions come into play. Even the love and the hate needs to be felt, and in order to make someone feel certain way we should know how we have to act.
Sympathy is the basic emotion and can be superficial or very deep in its effect. In its basic superficial emotion, as human we feel bad when something bad happens to anyone. Some one develops an illness or someone dies. So sympathy is easy to understand as well as feel. It is expressed through actions and words.
When sympathy more intense and deep it leads to compassion and then empathy. Compassion is like sympathy but is more intense. So it shows in the verbal and non-verbal communication. Doctors and nurses are seen as more understanding in the care and patients can sense that the doctor has compassion.
Empathy is more than emotion and it requires people to develop the competence to understand the person and his/her feelings. So a patient can come with varying problems, and it is important to find and treat their medical issues, yet it is more important to understand their feelings or the mental states, their point of view and ultimately try to imagine yourself in patients shoes. It will give the nurse or the doctors a very different perspective when treating the patient.
The last concept is Altruism. Its easy to understand but hardest to practice. What I mean is that we all can talk about being selfless and caring towards another, but only when we ourselves are comfortable. A truly altruistic person will try to benefit other on their own expense. It happens when they realize that the other person is more in need of the same thing that we need and they let go of their needs and fulfil the needs of the other.
The healthcare field requires compassion from the people delivering the care to the patients. All the people come with ailments and with concern about themselves. They want their doctors and nurses to understand them, address their concern and treat them with respect. Their past experiences give them a feeling of fear at times, and the stories they have heard are also not helpful in these circumstances. If they come across hostile or non-sympathetic situations they may not tell the full story or may show restraints on getting right treatment. These patients are in need of compassionate and empathic doctors and nurses. Those who will not judge them, and understand and address their concerns, and listen to them with respect.
Learning patience to listen, learning compassion to have empathy and dealing with patient as we want others to treat us, is the great way to become a good nurse or a good doctor.