Based on the Cleveland Clinic video, I have learned that as a health care leader, empathy is important for connecting with patients and among employees. This is because it enables us to put ourselves in the shoes of others and better understand their perspectives. Also, my perception of Cleveland from a patient standpoint is that the staff is empathetic and has connections with their clients ("Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care", 2013). As a prospective employee, I would love to work in an environment that the needs of others, particularly patients are kept before others because of the various health issues each person has. The organization that I work for conducts empathy training for staff on an annual basis. Being in health care requires empathy to be integrated into everyday practices. It has been effective because through it staff is taught ways of becoming empathetic such as being genuinely interested in the patient by asking them to share their feelings, thoughts, and perceptions. Also through active listening and making an effort to understand where the patient is coming from is a way of showing empathy.
Expanding our capacity for empathy requires us to open our minds and put ourselves in the position of others. Before then it becomes hard to understand things from their point of view. Jones (2017) in her article Gallery 9: nurses who bring care and compassion to the US health system, reveals some of the ways in which nurses have gone out of their way to show empathy to their patients. These include keeping baby animals for patients to pet, the inclusion of minority groups to meet their health care needs, passing knowledge to fellow nurses, and encouraging people on better health choices among others. The smallest notions of empathy make the biggest and lasting impressions. Empathy is associated with better adherence to medication, decreased cases of malpractice, and increases patient satisfaction (Ruben, Blanch-Hartigan & Hall, 2020). The expression of empathy, one human at a time advances humanity in health care.
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References
Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDWvj_q-o8&t=79s
Jones, C. (2017). Gallery: 9 nurses who bring care and compassion to the US health system. Retrieved from https://ideas.ted.com/gallery-9-nurses-who-bring-care-and-compassion-to-the-us-health-system/
Ruben, M. A., Blanch ‐ Hartigan, D., & Hall, J. A. (2020). Patients in Treatment. The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Treatment Engagement: Theory, Research and Clinical Practice , 274.
