Doctors Fail Empathy Test in 90% of Cases.
Chaplains Can Help.

“Doctors are routinely missing or ignoring moments that beg for empathy, and need more training in responding to human emotions,” reports the National Post of Canada.

A study by researchers from the University of Toronto and Duke University found that in 384 moments of “empathetic opportunities” when patients expressed fears, worries or concerns, doctors responded empathetically to only 10 per cent of them.

The study points out that when doctors respond with empathy, patients have less anxiety and depression. They’re more likely to comply with treatment and less likely to lodge malpractice complaints.

A 38-year-old patient who was diagnosed with leukemia said, “Doctors miss a whole piece of the patient by not dealing with the scary things that go through your mind.”

	Chaplains Sr. Margaret Oettinger and Rabbi Ralph Kreger confer with a nurse colleague at Hospital for Special Surgery.

Training in doctor-patient communication and empathy lags behind education in other areas.

Professional chaplains, as part of the health care team, specialize in creating constructive empathy with patients and assist doctors by making bridges in the conversation, notes the Rev. Sue Wintz, M. Div., BCC, managing editor of HealthCare Chaplaincy’s professional publication PlainViews^®.

She says, “The physicians I work with in the neurological intensive care units know that I will give them a very brief summary of what they need to know about beliefs, values, and other issues before talking with a patient or family member so they can incorporate addressing those concerns into their conversation. When new residents come on board, I’m one of the first people they’re introduced to. They’re told by their colleagues, ‘Not only is Chaplain Sue one of your biggest resources, she can teach you the part of working with patients and families that medical school didn’t teach.’”

American Society of Clinical Oncologists Urges Advance Directives & Palliative Care

(From: CNN Health)

Chaplain the Rev. Florine Thompson comforts a patient at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center.

In an effort to improve the communications between doctors and patients, the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) just released a new policy statement and a patient guide for conversations about the time when treatment options run out.

"While improving survival is the oncologist's primary goal, helping individuals live their final days in comfort and dignity is one of the most important responsibilities of our profession," says ASCO president, Dr. George W. Sledge, Jr. The organization is urging its members to make the first move and initiate these very difficult conversations.

When a patient is told he or she has advanced cancer, the first thought is to fight it, beat the cancer. But what happens when the available treatments don't work anymore? What does the patient want their oncologist to do next? If patients don't have advance directives or a will, and never tell their doctors how far they want to go, it can have tragic consequences says Dr. Allen Lichter, a radiation oncologist and ASCO's CEO.

He gives an example where a patient with advanced, incurable cancer is rushed to the hospital in an ambulance in an area where emergency medical personnel have to put a breathing tube into a patient who stopped breathing. Because he is intubated, the patient can no longer speak. Since there no advanced directives on how he wants to be treated exist, the patient spends the next 3 days in the intensive care unit (ICU) and then dies. The patient never had a chance to say good-bye to his wife and children, but the family is bankrupted by $25,000 in medical bills stemming from the stay in the ICU.

The point Lichter is making is that this same patient could have benefitted from hospice care. But as this new position paper points out, "the transition from a focus on disease-directed treatment to an emphasis on palliative care all too often occurs within days of the end of life."

"We [ASCO] support respecting patients’ wishes in the end but if we don't have the discussion and don't know what that is then we can't necessarily respect those wishes," says Lichter. For entire story, click here.

Meet Extraordinary Patient Care Honoree
Frederick S. Fein, MD

Our annual Wholeness of Life Awards dinner on November 4th featured the patient care honorees from the metropolitan New York health care institutions where we manage, staff, and operate board certified chaplaincy services.

Each honoree is chosen by his or her peers as an exemplar of patient-centered care.

Each issue of HealthCare Chaplaincy Today is profiling one honoree.

Today meet Frederick S. Fein, MD, Director, Telemetry Service, Winthrop-University Hospital. From the citation read at the award ceremony at the hospital, here’s what his colleagues say about him:

“As a cardiologist at Winthrop University Hospital, Dr. Fein focuses on the heart as a physical organ, but in his life he is known as a person OF heart, a person who supports others, who considers the connection between body, mind, and spirit as central to the practice of medicine.

Dr. Fein serves as mentor and educator to the medical residents and nursing staff, where his love of teaching is apparent.

His kind, caring and compassionate manner toward his patients makes him a truly outstanding and special person.

He is a model to many, quietly showing by example the ethical and moral principles of a strong spiritual center in his own life.

He is a healing presence to all those he serves.”

Follow us on for the latest news about HealthCare Chaplaincy and the growing field of spirit-centered palliative care.