Compassionate Competency

Healing the Heart of Healthcare

Emelia Sam

• Publisher: Emelia Sam
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780578448985
• Topic: Medicina
• Subtopic: Teoría, práctica y referencia médicas

Using compassion as the foundation, Dr. Emelia Sam explores the way in which contemporary healthcare can be transformed from the inside out. Combining elements of mindfulness and emotional intelligence, this work imparts simple and practical direction for practitioners and students. Compassionate Competency serves as a guide for the healthcare community to deliver the type of service that patients deserve while providers simultaneously find meaning and fulfillment in the care they give.

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Given that the internet grants access to information on virtually anything, people tend to be more meticulous about their choices. Whether debating upon which restaurant to patronize or which airline offers the best deal, online resources are often considered trusted sources.

Furthermore, rate-based systems and informal rating practices, through the use of real-time social media, sway the decisions of consumers. Healthcare facilities and their practitioners are no exception.

It takes only seconds to find available information on where a practitioner has studied, how many years of experience, and if a history of legal issues exists. And if no information can be found, the individual conducting the search may quickly move to the next choice available.

By doing these crude searches, patients are looking to confirm a level of competence. However, over the years, I noticed an emerging pattern regarding the ways in which patients relate to their chosen doctors. It appeared that expectations exceed the usual parameters by which practitioners have been judged.

I have had numerous conversations in which it felt as if patients were looking for something beyond solely competence.

A Whole New Mind

These conversations reminded me of a book I read years prior, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink. It described how our society, dominated by “left-brained thinking” for centuries, has been transitioning to so-called “right brained thinking.” In short, the creatives are taking the lead.

As is pointed out in his book, there is no right-brain or left-brain. It works in concert. However, the halves seem to process information differently. The left does so in a sequential, logical order, whereas the right half operates in a simultaneous, big-picture manner.

Another book that comes to mind is My Stroke of Insight by neuroanatomist, Jill Bolte-Taylor. She details her experience while having a stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain and her arduous recovery period.² Her story is helpful to gain a rudimentary understanding of the differences between how the hemispheres operate. (If you aren’t inclined to read another book, you can watch her popular TED talk with the same title.)

Pink effectively uses this left-brain/right-brain paradigm while elucidating on the progression of society. As he outlines, we have progressed through the agrarian age, industrial age, information age and are now in the conceptual age.

Farmers were central in the agrarian age, factory workers in the industrial age, and with the information age/technological period, we have seen the rise of what Pink calls “knowledge workers.” These periods have been largely dominated by a logical, “left-brained” focus.

If we look at what has been happening with the emergence of the conceptual age, the creators and empathizers are stepping to the forefront. People are getting more creative with how they present what they present to the world.

For example, you may or may not have noticed the emergence of storytelling. There have always been professional storytellers. However, their skill had not traditionally been considered mainstream in a knowledge worker world.

Now, stories have come to the forefront in how leading brands are marketing and promoting themselves. Social media sites, such as Instagram, are often used to show behind the scenes. They are building relationships with consumers through the stories they are sharing. The sole offering of products and services is no longer enough.

Pink goes on to support his argument pointing out that we live in a world of abundance. Choices are plenty. Information is everywhere. As a result, the things and experiences that people will now demand are the things that can’t be replicated.

They want meaning.

This is where the so-called right-brained perspective comes in. Pink outlined what he refers to as the six conceptual senses. (I encourage you to read his book to fully comprehend these concepts.) These are the abilities of individuals who dominate in the current conceptual age.

They are:

Design

Empathy

Story

Symphony

Play

Meaning

While these senses can blend seamlessly, I choose to highlight the one sense that stands out most when it comes to the topic of healthcare – empathy. Surely, there are ways for all of these senses to be incorporated within the industry, but empathy holds particular resonance for me.

Over the last twenty years, I’ve seen thousands of patients and have been a patient. I’ve accompanied loved ones to their appointments, both routine and emergent. I’ve listened carefully to the accounts of friends and acquaintances who have sought care for a variety of reasons. The spectrum of experience is broad.

I firmly believe that patients have grown tired of being treated in an algorithmic fashion. Computers can do that. And in the age we live in, if patients want to know something, they Google or consult sites such as WebMD.

Though they may be misinformed or wrongly interpret what they find, the initial thought is to go to the computer and not the actual specialist. By the time they come to us, they want more from us than just our knowledge-even if they can’t articulate what that more is.

This is the “it factor” that exceptional practitioners possess and here is where we venture into the world of emotional intelligence (EQ).

Emotional Intelligence

As defined by Oxford dictionary, emotional intelligence is

“the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.”

(Sounds like the key to good bedside/chairside manner, no?)

Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso developed the emotional intelligence test (MSCEIT) in 1990 although the concept or similar terms had been used in prior research. However, in 1995, Daniel Goleman wrote the groundbreaking book, Emotional Intelligence, based off of the researchers’ findings.

His stance is that of EQ being equal to if not more important than IQ for personal and professional success.³ If we relate this to the simplistic left brain/right-brain model, then IQ would be considered left as EQ would be considered right.

Why is this important? Over the last few decades, we have seen how technology has exploded. In many areas, computers have replaced humans. IQ has been and continues to be replicated.

It is EQ that sets us apart. When is the last time you were frustrated interacting with some form of automation and wanted nothing more than a human being who understood what you required?

In addition, unlike IQ, emotional intelligence is something that can be nurtured. There are multiple school-based programs teaching techniques to children in order to produce well-adjusted adults.

But what about the rest of us? How can we cultivate these characteristics within ourselves? Certainly, these skills could be useful personally and professionally.

Mindfulness

In comes the current buzzword, mindfulness. We see it being mentioned not only in pop culture, but in corporate culture. It is no longer exclusively associated with the yoga-loving, organic eating, tree-hugging individual. (By the way, there’s nothing wrong with that if you fit the description.)

The practice of mindfulness has made its way into bedrooms and boardrooms. Over the years it has become increasingly integrated into healthcare.

What is mindfulness? According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, the man who popularized the practice in the West, mindfulness is,

“to purposefully pay attention in a sustained and non-judgmental way to what is going on in your body, your mind, and the world around you.”

In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn created an eight-week course called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The course was aimed at patients with chronic pain.

The popularity of MBSR has grown since the 90s and...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Communication
• Chapter 3: Observation
• Chapter 4: Mastery
• Chapter 5: Pausing
• Chapter 6: Attention
• Chapter 7: Self-Care
• Chapter 8: Standards
• Chapter 9: Integration
• Chapter 10: Objectivity
• Chapter 11: Needs
• Chapter 12: Conclusion
• References
• Additional Resources
• About the Author