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Cited by 710Empathy and Medical EducationPatient-Provider Communication in HealthcareMedicine, History, and Philosophy

What is clinical empathy?

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Halpern, Jodi·2003·Journal of General Internal Medicine
DOI 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2003.21017.xPMC PMC1494899
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Abstract

Patients seek empathy from their physicians. Medical educators increasingly recognize this need. Yet in seeking to make empathy a reliable professional skill, doctors change the meaning of the term. Outside the field of medicine, empathy is a mode of understanding that specifically involves emotional resonance. In contrast, leading physician educators define empathy as a form of detached cognition. In contrast, this article argues that physicians' emotional attunement greatly serves the cognitive goal of understanding patients' emotions. This has important implications for teaching empathy.

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  • Good communication skills of empathizing and expressing understanding are associated with better clinical outcomes, professional satisfaction, and might help protect HCP from burnout.

    “Good communication skills of empathizing and expressing the understanding towards patients' biopsychosocial contexts and goals of treatments was found to be associated with better clinical outcomes, professional satisfaction, and might help protect HCP from burnout [27,47,49].”

    From The efficacy of applying the Interpersonal Effectiveness skills of dialectical behavior therapy into communication skills workshop for clinical nurses (2023) · cites this paper as [27]

    The passages headed “Empathy Facilitates Trust and Disclosure” and “Empathy Makes Being a Physician More Meaningful and Satisfying” link empathic communication to improved patient outcomes, physician satisfaction, and less frequent burnout. The burnout finding concerns physicians with an engaged communication style; these passages do not establish it for healthcare professionals generally or specifically for communication about treatment goals. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. [6]Osler W. Aequanimitas. New York, NY: Norton; 1963. p. 29. [Google Scholar]
  2. [9]Damasio A. Descartes' Error. London, UK: Macmillan; 1994. [Google Scholar]
  3. [17]Coles R. The Call of Stories. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin; 1989. pp. 117–8. [Google Scholar]
  4. [24]Winnicott D. Hate in the counter-transference. Int J Psychoanal. 1949;30:69–74. [Google Scholar]

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Authors
Halpern, J.
Affiliations
University of California, Berkeley (US)
Corresponding author
Halpern, Jodi
ORCID
Halpern, Jodi
Venue
Journal of General Internal Medicine
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2003-08
Volume
18
Issue
8
Pages
670-674
ISSN
  • 0884-8734 (ISSN-L)
  • 1525-1497
DOI
10.1046/j.1525-1497.2003.21017.x
PMC
PMC1494899
OpenAlex
W2102919714
Cited by
710
References
23
Citations by year
2026: 42 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 54 · 2021: 81 · 2020: 49 · 2019: 57 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 43 · 2016: 40 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 29 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 15
FWCI
3.48
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of General Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Empathy and Medical Education
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Medicine, History, and Philosophy
Keywords
clinical empathy, physician-patient relationship, emotional attunement, emotional resonance, teaching empathy, medical education
MeSH terms
Emotions, Empathy, Humans, Physician-Patient Relations, Ethics, Clinical

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