Learning to Practice Compassionate Care: Medical Students Discuss Their Most Memorable Lessons
Compassion in interactions between physicians and patients can have a therapeutic effect independent of the technical medical treatment provided. However, training physicians to effectively communicate compassion is challenging. This study explores how medical students experienced training focused o...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Patient Experience |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/23743735221117383 |
| _version_ | 1811221038842773504 |
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| author | Cynthia E. Schairer PhD Jenna Tutjer MA, MSW Christopher Cannavino MD William C. Mobley MD, PhD Lisa Eyler PhD Cinnamon S. Bloss PhD |
| author_facet | Cynthia E. Schairer PhD Jenna Tutjer MA, MSW Christopher Cannavino MD William C. Mobley MD, PhD Lisa Eyler PhD Cinnamon S. Bloss PhD |
| author_sort | Cynthia E. Schairer PhD |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Compassion in interactions between physicians and patients can have a therapeutic effect independent of the technical medical treatment provided. However, training physicians to effectively communicate compassion is challenging. This study explores how medical students experienced training focused on interacting with patients by examining students’ reports of particularly memorable lessons. Six focus groups were conducted with medical students (total n = 48) in their fourth year of training. We report on responses from students to the question, “What was the most memorable lesson you have learned about interacting with patients?” Students discussed lessons aimed at patient-centered physical navigation, interpersonal navigation, and perspective taking. Concerns were raised that navigation techniques felt inauthentic and that perspective taking was too time consuming to be sustainable in actual practice. While perspective-taking exercises should motivate medical students to treat every patient with dignity by demonstrating the complexity of others’ lives, if students assume that full understanding is a prerequisite to delivery of compassionate care, they may dismiss explicit techniques of patient-centered care as inauthentic and perceive compassion and efficiency as mutually exclusive. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T07:52:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fdcfd1de80b649869d929ebd6ddda561 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2374-3743 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T07:52:52Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Patient Experience |
| spelling | doaj.art-fdcfd1de80b649869d929ebd6ddda5612022-12-22T03:41:34ZengSAGE PublishingJournal of Patient Experience2374-37432022-08-01910.1177/23743735221117383Learning to Practice Compassionate Care: Medical Students Discuss Their Most Memorable LessonsCynthia E. Schairer PhD0Jenna Tutjer MA, MSW1Christopher Cannavino MD2William C. Mobley MD, PhD3Lisa Eyler PhD4Cinnamon S. Bloss PhD5 Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, , La Jolla, CA, USA T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, , La Jolla, CA, USA Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, , La Jolla, CA, USA Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, , La Jolla, CA, USA Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, , La Jolla, CA, USA Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, , La Jolla, CA, USACompassion in interactions between physicians and patients can have a therapeutic effect independent of the technical medical treatment provided. However, training physicians to effectively communicate compassion is challenging. This study explores how medical students experienced training focused on interacting with patients by examining students’ reports of particularly memorable lessons. Six focus groups were conducted with medical students (total n = 48) in their fourth year of training. We report on responses from students to the question, “What was the most memorable lesson you have learned about interacting with patients?” Students discussed lessons aimed at patient-centered physical navigation, interpersonal navigation, and perspective taking. Concerns were raised that navigation techniques felt inauthentic and that perspective taking was too time consuming to be sustainable in actual practice. While perspective-taking exercises should motivate medical students to treat every patient with dignity by demonstrating the complexity of others’ lives, if students assume that full understanding is a prerequisite to delivery of compassionate care, they may dismiss explicit techniques of patient-centered care as inauthentic and perceive compassion and efficiency as mutually exclusive.https://doi.org/10.1177/23743735221117383 |
| spellingShingle | Cynthia E. Schairer PhD Jenna Tutjer MA, MSW Christopher Cannavino MD William C. Mobley MD, PhD Lisa Eyler PhD Cinnamon S. Bloss PhD Learning to Practice Compassionate Care: Medical Students Discuss Their Most Memorable Lessons Journal of Patient Experience |
| title | Learning to Practice Compassionate
Care: Medical Students Discuss Their
Most Memorable Lessons |
| title_full | Learning to Practice Compassionate
Care: Medical Students Discuss Their
Most Memorable Lessons |
| title_fullStr | Learning to Practice Compassionate
Care: Medical Students Discuss Their
Most Memorable Lessons |
| title_full_unstemmed | Learning to Practice Compassionate
Care: Medical Students Discuss Their
Most Memorable Lessons |
| title_short | Learning to Practice Compassionate
Care: Medical Students Discuss Their
Most Memorable Lessons |
| title_sort | learning to practice compassionate care medical students discuss their most memorable lessons |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/23743735221117383 |
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