• Hamish Holewa, Rebecca Garden
• International Program of Psycho-Social Health Research

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19 February 2010Whilst medical schools are increasingly recognising the importance of empathy training, the hidden curriculum - the reality of clinic care - often overrides empathy training when medical students begin work in the wards. This week, Hamish Holewa talks with Dr Rebecca Garden, who believes this is a concern, given the strong evidence that patients do better medically and are more likely to collaborate in their treatment programs when they are collaborating with empathic doctors. She says we need to teach health professionals to be as conscious of emotions as possible, and to respond to emotions in themselves and their patients, in order to deliver effective patient centred care. Rebecca stresses that the critical point in building a collaborative relationship with a patient is reached when doctors check back with patients to make sure they've 'got it right', as it gives doctors an opportunity to learn more about the factors influencing their patient's health and allows the patients to be the authority on their own story of illness. She also suggests that clinical empathy can actually be energising for health professionals and need not impose on the efficiency of a busy clinical environment.