Lin C-S, Hsu M-Y F, Chong C-F
School of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Hsinchuang, Taipei, Taiwan.
Educ Health (Abingdon). 2008 Jul;21(2):144. Epub 2008 Aug 23.
Conveying empathy is a multi-phase process involving an inner resonation phase, communication phase, and reception phase. Previous investigations on physician empathy have focused on a physician's inner resonation phase or communication phase and not on the patient's reception phase. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the perception of physicians' empathy between emergency physicians (EPs) and their patients. The answer to this question will allow us to more fully understand all phases of empathy and will help guide the teaching of how to effectively communicate empathy in the clinical setting.
From 2004 to 2005, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 7 each of EPs, patients, patients' family members and nurses. A phenomenological approach was used to analyze the data.
Four themes emerged from the analysis: (1) When patients expressed their feelings, EPs usually did not resonate with their concerns; (2) Patients needed EPs to provide psychological comfort, but EPs focused only on patients' physical discomfort; (3) Patients needed appropriate feedback from EPs, but EPs did not reflect on whether their patients had received empathy from them; (4) EPs' ability to empathize was affected by environmental factors, which EPs found difficult to overcome.
EPs and their patients perceive the physicians' empathy differently. These findings provide insights into patients' perceptions of their physicians' empathic expressions and provide a framework for teaching physicians how to convey empathy in the emergency department setting.
传达同理心是一个多阶段的过程，包括内心共鸣阶段、沟通阶段和接收阶段。以往对医生同理心的研究主要集中在医生的内心共鸣阶段或沟通阶段，而不是患者的接收阶段。本研究的目的是调查急诊医生（EP）与其患者对医生同理心认知的差异。对这个问题的回答将使我们更全面地理解同理心的所有阶段，并有助于指导在临床环境中有效传达同理心的教学。
2004年至2005年，我们对7名急诊医生、患者、患者家属和护士分别进行了深入的半结构化访谈。采用现象学方法分析数据。
分析得出四个主题：（1）当患者表达自己的感受时，急诊医生通常不会对他们的担忧产生共鸣；（2）患者需要急诊医生提供心理安慰，但急诊医生只关注患者的身体不适；（3）患者需要急诊医生给出适当的反馈，但急诊医生没有反思他们的患者是否从他们那里感受到了同理心；（4）急诊医生的同理心能力受到环境因素的影响，急诊医生发现这些因素很难克服。
急诊医生及其患者对医生同理心的认知不同。这些发现为了解患者对医生同理心表达的看法提供了见解，并为教导医生如何在急诊科环境中传达同理心提供了一个框架。
