Carmel S, Glick S M
Department of the Sociology of Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of The Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Soc Sci Med. 1996 Oct;43(8):1253-61. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(95)00445-9.
Compassionate-empathic physicians (CEPs) are desired by patients, but rarely found in medical settings. The purpose of this study was to promote our understanding of this gap by determining personal characteristics that distinguish CEPs from other physicians, and organizational factors that might enhance or inhibit physicians' compassionate-empathic behavior (CEB). In the first stage of the study, three groups of physicians who differed in their compassionate-empathic pattern of behavior toward patients were identified by a sociometric questionnaire distributed to 324 physicians in a general hospital. In the second stage, almost all of these physicians (N = 308) were asked to fill out a self administered structured questionnaire, and 214 (69.5%) responded. Comparisons among the three groups show that the physicians identified as CEPs, more than other physicians, are younger, have fewer years in medical practice, and score higher on pro-social, non-stereotypic attitudes toward patients and on empathy measures. Their self-esteem is, however, similar to that of the non-CEPs. The CEPs express similar levels of satisfaction with work on most dimensions, but they report more emotional exhaustion (burnout) than other physicians. A consensus among all physicians was found with regard to two rank orders: (a) the important qualities for being "a good physician"; and (b) the important qualities for being promoted in the hospital. However, while empathic behavior was considered the most important quality for being "a good physician", it was ranked as the least important for being promoted in the hospital. The conclusions can serve as a scientific base for improving methods of selection of medical students, and for re-evaluating the existent criteria for promoting medical staff in general hospitals.
患者希望有富有同情心和同理心的医生（CEPs），但在医疗环境中却很少见。本研究的目的是通过确定区分CEPs与其他医生的个人特征以及可能增强或抑制医生同情同理行为（CEB）的组织因素，来增进我们对这一差距的理解。在研究的第一阶段，通过向一家综合医院的324名医生发放社会测量问卷，确定了三组对患者同情同理行为模式不同的医生。在第二阶段，几乎所有这些医生（N = 308）都被要求填写一份自我管理的结构化问卷，214名（69.5%）做出了回应。三组之间的比较表明，被确定为CEPs的医生比其他医生更年轻，医疗实践年限更少，在对患者的亲社会、非刻板态度以及同理心测量方面得分更高。然而，他们的自尊与非CEPs相似。CEPs在大多数维度上对工作的满意度水平相似，但他们报告的情感耗竭（职业倦怠）比其他医生更多。所有医生在两个排序上达成了共识：（a）成为“好医生”的重要品质；（b）在医院晋升的重要品质。然而，虽然同理行为被认为是成为“好医生”最重要的品质，但在医院晋升方面却被列为最不重要的品质。这些结论可为改进医学生选拔方法以及重新评估综合医院医务人员晋升的现有标准提供科学依据。
