INTRODUCTION:

The word empathy comprises of a wide range of emotional states, including caring for other people and having a desire to help them; experiencing emotions that match another person's emotions; discerning what another person is thinking or feeling. ¹By and large, empathy is defined as the “ability to sense other people’s emotions coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling^”.² Empathy bases on behavioral dimension cognition and affection. ^{3, 4}Accordingly, it’s known as affective empathy that refers to the sensations and feelings gets in response to others’ emotions thereby one can mirror what that person is feeling. ^{5, 6}

In other words, cognitive empathy refers to the ability to identify and understand other peoples’ emotions.⁷ It is one of the important aspects of communication a vital step toward compassionate action.⁸Presently it’s learned that empathy has a genetic basis⁹and feasibility of enhancing one’s natural empathic abilities.¹⁰

Clinical Empathy is Virtuous for Medical Students:

Empathy means a specific experience other person undergoing, imagining that experience they themselves are undergoing.^{11, 12}Good communication skills are important to make you a successful professional. The empathetic skill is one of the most important skills found to be important for medical professionals.^{13, 14}

Doctors would best serve their patients by striving to have empathy for their patients, rather than sympathy or compassion.¹⁴Compassion means being aware of the suffering of others, but not necessarily understanding their views. Sympathy is a self-oriented approach thus compassion and sympathy are simply reactions are not as reflective as empathy^{15, 16}Doctors should develop empathy to form a connection with their patients that involves emotional sharing, patients’ perspective thus they can understand their patient well and help them better.^{13, 17, 18}Empathy in clinicians helps them to understand or appreciate how their patients feel, further this understanding is helpful in been expanding in the clinical context with the inclusion of emotive, moral, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions.^15,19

Table 1: Behavioral Dimensions of Empathy

These aspects are more fully described as follows:

The ability to imagine patients' emotions and perspectives

The physician's internal motivation to understand patient views

The intellectual ability to identify patients thought and feelings

The ability to convey an understanding of those emotions and perspectives with gestural behaviour back to the patient.

These separate dimensions of empathy stress that emotional engagement along the intellectual understanding make clinicians empathize effectively with more professional outlook.²⁰

This definition enriched to explain clinical empathy by viewing it as a form of “emotional labor” which requires both “deep acting,” or intentional modification of one's true emotions. Surface acting is the opposite of emotional engagement, suggesting that clinical empathy requires flexibility to suit varying patients and circumstances.²¹ All four dimensions of empathy may work together to benefit patients. For example, a physician could cognitively perceive a patient's anxiety and communicate this by saying “I see you are anxious,” yet have the statement fall flat. But if the physician adds the desire to empathize, and becomes emotionally engaged by imagining what the patient's anxiety must feel like, his facial expression and tone of voice are more likely to make the patient feel understood, not merely labeled. In turn, the patient's sense of being truly understood is likely to encourage further disclosure and foster trust. In other words, all dimensions of clinical empathy may be required for physicians to be effective empathetic. ¹³

Empathy and Sympathy:

Confusion of empathy with sympathy is a conceptual difficulty encountered by those interested in clinical empathy. Sympathy is defined as experiencing another person's emotions without appreciating those emotions. It is distinct from empathy.²²

The physicians who sympathize with patients share their suffering, which could lead to lack of objectivity and emotional fatigue. Empathy develops the archaic relationship that paves a way to positive impact on physician-patient interactions.^23,24Conversely, other opined that sympathy to be the same as the emotional component of empathy. ²⁵Medical students found with increased empathy for patients being able to be in the patient’s position and view them according to their views. ¹⁴

Measure Your Empathy and Intervene:

The multidimensional nature of clinical empathy makes it difficult to measure. Though it is difficult to measure it is possible to get formations on empathetic ability thus interventions can take a base on it. These measures commonly measure the expressions of empathy but a not useful measure of identifying patient's emotions correctly. Empathy measurement tool is helpful in educational interventions.²⁶Empathy measurements using trained observers to assess empathy by using Accurate Empathy Scale and the items from the History-taking Rating Scale to rate students' ability in empathizing.²⁷Some interventions were evaluated by quality analysis of individual and through group comments.^28,29One of the most well-known and validated Jefferson Scale have been used to assess physician empathy.^30-34

Thus, enhancing natural empathic abilities is a well-intentioned medical professional. Educators can make use of effective educational strategies if they wish to promote empathy in medical students.³⁵Empathy is innate potentials that enhanced through fostering it using educational strategies. It is worthwhile focusing educational interventions effectively on fostering empathy in undergraduate medical students. The dimension empathy having significance in medical profession still there is uncertainty about these dimensions, thus should be addressed and the larger studies using validated measurement tools are recommended.³⁶

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Received on 27.10.2017 Modified on 19.11.2017

Research J. Pharm. and Tech 2017; 10(12): 4407-4409.

DOI: 10.5958/0974-360X.2017.00812.5