Helping Healthcare Professionals Find Empathy Through Patient Stories

I just finished reading The Power of Kindness, Why Empathy is Essential in Everyday Life by Dr. Brian Goldman. The book begins with Dr. Goldman, an emergency room physician, asking the question — am I a kind soul? He embarks on a quest to learn more about empathy, what makes some people more empathetic and others less, and how he, as a doctor, can be more empathetic with his patients.

As he begins his research he finds “the capacity of veteran nurses to respond to the pain their patients feel is dulled by years of experience.” The longer nurses, or other healthcare professionals, have worked in their field, the less able they are to respond to the pain of their patients. This could be due to the fact they regularly work with patients in pain as well as their high-stress work environment.

Working in patient advocacy, and having written two patients advocacy books on helping mothers and caregivers have their voices heard, as I was reading The Power of Kindness I began thinking about the role patient advocacy can play in helping healthcare professionals be more empathetic.

I’m sure there has been many time as a patient you have felt you were just a body being treated versus being seen as a person. The nurse or doctor has come in, taken your vital signs, asked about your…