Improvedx August 2016

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE Improve SOCIETY TO IMPROVE DIAGNOSIS IN MEDICINE Dx Volume 3 • Number 4 AUGUST 2016 The Role of Empathy and Compassion in Diagnosis By Susan Carr Although empathy and compassion are central to In a review of healthcare literature focused Newsletter Editor topics of current interest, including burnout, patient on compassion, Sinclair et al. note the challenge satisfaction, and medical and nursing education, many researchers face in “distinguishing between the terms are often loosely defined, and research the construct of compassion and variants of sym- about their role in medicine has been scarce.1 That pathy and empathy.”1(e2) They describe empathy is beginning to change. There are recently published as the ability to understand and acknowledge studies,1–4 and healthcare organizations such as the the feelings of others. Sympathy is an emotional Stanford School of Medicine and the Massachusetts reaction to suffering; compassion involves tak- General Hospital have established departments and ing action: “[Compassion] requires emotion and training programs dedicated to improving interper- action…, finds its basis in love, vulnerability, and sonal skills related to compassion and empathy (see reciprocity, and is actualized in the disadvantag- p3 for more information). Some of this work looks ing of oneself for the benefit of another.”1(e2) beyond the benefits of improved relationships to explore the complex effects emotions can have on Compassion Fatigue and diagnosis and treatment. Occupational Stress Defining Empathy and Compassion It is widely assumed that compassion—the desire to help others—is what drives most clini- The first step for researchers and others interested cians to choose their profession. It has also been in this topic is to define the terms empathy and noted that the process of medical education and compassion, which are often the demands of practice and caregiving take a The first step for researchers and others used interchangeably in casual toll on the capacity of medical students and cli- conversation. nicians to feel empathic and to act with compas- interested in this topic is to define the Tony Fernando, MD, psy- sion toward patients.4,7 chiatrist and sleep specialist at This erosion of empathy and compassion, terms empathy and compassion, which Auckland University in New are often used interchangeably in Zealand, offers training in compassion and mindfulness casual conversation. for physicians and medical students.5 Fernando describes Also in This Issue… empathy as a precursor to compassion.6 Empathy Diagnostic Error in Medicine Europe .........4 is how one individual connects with others, rec- AHRQ Research Summit on Improving ognizing and understanding their experiences. Diagnosis ..........................................................4 Compassion is the next step, in which empathy leads to a desire to help—often but not necessarily Leapfrog Group Survey .................................4 leading to action. To provide an example, Fernando describes approaching a disruptive patient. Though the patient is clearly suffering, the clinician’s initial reaction may be wary and defensive. Fernando role plays, saying, “Then I [the physician] notice my judgment and shift into empathy. ‘I can understand your suffering.’ Then I shift into compassion: ‘I want to help; How may I be of benefit?’”6 www.improvediagnosis.org With thanks for their often referred to as “compassion fatigue,” is that motivate their thinking.”13—a thought that assistance with this article: related to burnout. All of these are considered to is taken for granted in some spheres, but not in Jeannine Cyr Gluck, MLS be forms of occupational stress.2 Signs and symp- medicine. It is less obvious why the disruptive Mark L. Graber, MD toms associated with these conditions include behavior led to the errors. Contrary to what was anger, fatigue, detachment, addiction, disrupted expected, physicians in the study spent roughly Michael Grossman, MD sleep, and troubled relationships. These condi- the same amount of time on all the cases. The Lorri Zipperer, MA tions may contribute to poor performance and errors were not caused by the physicians rushing diagnostic error, among other safety problems.8,9 through cases in order to spend less time (even if Compassion and empathy are elements of just on paper) with disruptive patients. In a sepa- a larger context—the emotional environment rate but related study, researchers postulate that within which patients and clinicians relate the physicians spent extra mental energy dealing around medical care. The intensity of that envi- with disruptive behavior and, therefore, had less ronment contributes to occupational stress.2 to spend on the diagnosis, to the detriment of Patients expect physicians and other caregivers to their performance.12 treat them with empathy, sympathy, and compas- In “Emotional Influences in Patient Safety,” sion. Meanwhile, physicians navigate their own Croskerry, Abbass, and Wu find correlations emotions as they work with patients who may be between but little awareness of or research about distrustful, scared, frustrated, or have other more the connections between emotions and diag- serious psychological issues in addition to seri- nostic error.8 They observe that among different ous medical conditions.6 kinds of errors, “emotional errors” are most anal- For physicians and nurses, this environment ogous to cognitive errors: requires a high level of “emotional intelligence,” a term popularized in 1995 by Daniel Goleman, The properties of emotional error make it PhD,10 that encompasses the ability to know, man- especially difficult to deal with. As with cognitive ImproveDx is a bimonthly age, and marshal one’s own emotions while recog- error, it is mostly covert, often not witnessed, and publication of the not-for- almost never recorded.…emotional influences profit Society to Improve nizing and working with the emotions of others. Even professionals with highly advanced medical remain a blind spot both in studies of clinical Diagnosis in Medicine. decision making and within the general context The opinions expressed or nursing knowledge and technical skills may 8(p200) in this publication are not struggle to perform optimally when facing adver- of patient safety. necessarily those of the sarial patients and chaotic practice situations. Society to Improve They use examples of diagnostic error to illus- Diagnosis in Medicine or Those circumstances require everyone to muster trate how emotions can undermine good deci- its Board of Directors. emotional intelligence. The demands placed on sion-making. In countertransference, something clinicians for improved efficiency, electronic doc- about the patient reminds the physician of some- Editorial Board umentation, quality reporting, etc., also make the one else—perhaps an emotionally needy rela- Mark L. Graber, MD practice environment more stressful. Michael Grossman, MD tive—or a class of patients, evoking a “predictable 8 Jeannine Cyr Gluck, MLS and often biased response.” Attribution also Emotions and Diagnostic Error involves a bias; in this case, assumptions (often Managing Editor Researchers in The Netherlands found a direct negative) that are triggered by something about Lorri Zipperer correlation between working with patients whose the patient’s presentation or history. For example, Zipperer Project Management behavior was identified as “disruptive” and the a physician attributes a patient’s symptoms to his 11,12 Albuquerque, NM accuracy of physicians’ diagnoses. Physicians or her known history of drug abuse and misses committed more diagnostic errors when work- the actual, unrelated medical problem. These Editor ing with disruptive—versus neutral—patients; errors are possible with any patient and may be Susan Carr with more clinically complex cases, the effect was more likely to occur with those who are disrup- Concord, MA stronger. To control the variables, the study was tive or disturbed.8 © 2016 Society to Improve performed with written vignettes. Two versions Croskerry, Abbass, and Wu also connect burn- Diagnosis in Medicine of each case were identical except for the descrip- out to the emotional context of medical practice tion of the patient; physicians (family practice res- and recommend that clinicians monitor and regu- Permission to reprint idents) saw only the neutral or disruptive version late their emotions—ie, employ good emotional portions of this publication for educational and not-for- of each case. The authors point out that the study’s intelligence. They further propose that physicians profit purposes is granted design may understate the effect: “The potential and nurses (as well as teachers, whose work is subject to accompaniment negative effect of difficult behaviours displayed by also intensely involved with people) who lack by appropriate credit to real patients is likely to be stronger than what can that intelligence have to work harder to block or SIDM and ImproveDX. emerge from a few sentences about the patient’s defend against their own emotional reactions and Commercial reproduction 11(p4) requires preapproval. Some behavior in a written case.” are therefore more prone to occupational stress. fees may apply. Commenting on the study, editorialists state They are also more likely to make errors, having the obvious: “Real people have real emotions been distracted and depleted by the challenge of www.improvediagnosis.org August 2016 ImproveDx 2 errors themselves. Similarly, emotions

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