Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jun 6;15(6):e40041.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.40041. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Evolving Scope of Clinical Empathy in the Current Era of Medical Practice

Jayakrishnan B  1 , Jothydev Kesavadev  2 , Abhishek Shrivastava  3 , Banshi Saboo  4 , Brij Mohan Makkar  5
Affiliations
Review

Evolving Scope of Clinical Empathy in the Current Era of Medical Practice

Jayakrishnan B et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Clinical empathy is one of the most essential tools of medical practice, and it is an act of correctly acknowledging the emotional state of another without experiencing that state oneself. Empathy comprises four components. Mounting evidence exists to support the use of clinical empathy as a tactic for effective health care. Resolving the multi-fold barriers of clinical empathy is important. Clinical empathy is very important in the current era, and a trust-based relationship in patient care is a way to optimal clinical outcomes that can be achieved through better communication and treatment-compliance plans between health care professionals and patients.

Keywords: communication; diabetes; doctor-patient; empathy; sympathy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Benefits of clinical empathy
Image Credits: Jayakrishnan B (Corresponding Author)
Figure 2
Figure 2. The three phases of empathy
Image Credits: Jayakrishnan B (Corresponding Author)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Clarifying empathy: the first step to more humane clinical care. Jeffrey D. Br J Gen Pract. 2016;66:0–5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. The role of empathy in health and social care professionals. Moudatsou M, Stavropoulou A, Philalithis A, Koukouli S. Healthcare (Basel) 2020;8:26. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Empathy in health care providers--validation study of the Polish version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. Kliszcz J, Nowicka-Sauer K, Trzeciak B, Nowak P, Sadowska A. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17357313/ Adv Med Sci. 2006;51:219–225. - PubMed
    1. What is clinical empathy? Halpern J. J Gen Intern Med. 2003;18:670–674. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE). Center for research in medical education and health care (CRMEHC) [ May; 2023 ]. https://www.jefferson.edu/academics/colleges-schools-institutes/skmc/res... https://www.jefferson.edu/academics/colleges-schools-institutes/skmc/res...

LinkOut - more resources