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UNDERSTANDING EMPATHY
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Empathy can be thought of as standing in the patient's shoes or trying to imagine the patient's perspective. Empathy involves reframing the clinical encounter by recognizing emotion and occupying the emotional space rather than defaulting to a biomedical or factual stance.
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HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
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This guide provides a brief conceptual framework for empathy in patient care and provides examples of difficult situations or phrases and suggested responses. Each vignette is a mere snapshot of situations that commonly arise in medical practice. We propose “traditional” responses in the left column and “empathic” responses in the right column.
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All clinicians should adapt the responses in this guide to their own style and use words and phrases that feel genuine to them. “Traditional” approaches listed in this document are often appropriate in the right context.
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EMPATHY IN PATIENT CARE: KEY CONCEPTS
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KEY CONCEPT 1: The challenging conversations described in this guide are born of strong emotions that are experienced by all vulnerable patients and their families. Those emotions include fear, helplessness, desperation, frustration, sadness, grief, and anxiety.
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KEY CONCEPT 2: Rather than trying to fix the unfixable, empathic responses like those listed in this guide help us to connect with patients and families in a healing way.
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KEY CONCEPT 3: Exploratory questions, like, “tell me more…,” create more empathic opportunities.
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KEY CONCEPT 4: Empathic responses often fit into one of the following categories (NURSE): Name the emotion, Understand, Respect, Support, Explore (Pollak, Journal of Clinical Oncology 2007).
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WEAVING EMPATHY INTO EVERY ENCOUNTER
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