Empathy and Physicians

Empathy and Physicians: Finding a Middle Ground

One aspect of Decety's talk that I found particularly interesting was the application of his research and findings to the medical profession. I have often heard from medical students who worry about the consequences of being too emotionally invested but are sometimes comforted about the fact that they will become desensitized with exposure and experience.  As a pre-med student myself, I not only found Decety's advice to be very interesting but also relevant to the future. Decety argues that contrary to such notions, "a detached perspective between a physician and her patient may not be as good as it seems". Empathy, which Decety states is applicable to various phenomena over a broad spectrum, can be defined as feelings of concern for other people, experiencing emotions that match another individual’s emotions, knowing what the other is thinking of feeling, or blurring the line between self and other. While empathy in a clinical setting may seem to provide a source of conflict between providing care and treating the patient, some level of empathy is necessary in certain contexts. Although doctors and nurses deal with emotionally distressing situations such as illnesses, death, and suffering in every form (and may also have to inflict pain as part of the healing procedure), too little empathy and too much empathy can actually be "detrimental to the patient's well being".

Decety referenced one experiment in which MDs and non-MDs (control group), in a scanner, were exposed to short video clips of a either a face, piece of food, or hand being pricked by a needle. Interestingly, results showed that the control group activated the same “aversive” network, but physicians do not activate that same area at all! Instead, another area was found active in physicians, which correlated to a lower pain rating on scales. While Decety acknowledged that there were benefits to doctors turn off their empathy arousal, such as a lack of alarm or fear, freed processing capacities, and no compassion fatigue, there were also costs  that must be considered. Physicians who display less empathy have a tendency to underestimate others' pain,  often have poor rapport with patients, and filtering out emotional information. Nevertheless, Decety said that turning off empathy may be good in some contexts, such as during surgery, but were necessary in post-op follow-up with the patient. 

Decety's lecture was not only very interesting, but was very relevant in it's application to the medical profession. Comparison of research to common beliefs highlights the importance of an increase in sensitivity and empathy education in medical schools, which will not only benefit the patient but also the physician's state of well being. Ultimately, it it essential that physicians develop an understanding of when empathy is necessary and strive to be empathetic in certain situations. 

Given such research and findings, I believe that it is necessary for medical and nursing schools to implement classes for their students at all levels in order to provide guidance and education as to the proper conduct and empathy required in various situations that they may find themselves in. Medical and nursing schools are designed to prepare their students for the a career in the health profession, yet in order to do so fully, students must be aware and equipped with the skills necessary to display sensitivity to their patient's situation in order to make them feel more comfortable. I am curious as to what level activation would be seen in other fields or careers containing interaction with others in contexts that may also require varying levels of empathy.