BookDaniel E. Epner.
Summary: "Empathy: Real Stories to Inspire and Enlighten Busy Clinicians helps you approach tough conversations with patients in a new, more effective way--by imagining what patients and their families may be thinking and feeling, and then communicating that recognition clearly and confidently. The authors use stories to illustrate what empathy looks and sounds like on an operational level rather than a theoretical, scientific, or conceptual level and provide the actionable advice you need to make empathy the central focus when faced with challenging scenarios, such as "denial," questions about prognosis, existential concerns, difficult family dynamics, anger, and nonmedical opiate use. The viewpoints presented are drawn from a diverse group of clinicians from a variety of medical disciplines, including oncology, palliative medicine, pediatrics, psychology, chaplaincy, and ophthalmology. Each chapter is anchored by a true but anonymized story that clearly illustrates how empathy can unfold in the clinical setting. Vignettes throughout provide sample dialogue and examples of actual words and phrases that help clinicians connect with patients under the most trying circumstances"-- Publisher's description.
Contents:
Logic only takes you so far: the power of emotional connection
Code blue
Safe and empathic approach to opioid use through the lens of a palliative care physician
A son's duty
My soul is bleeding
Sticking by my patients, no matter what
Tell me stories
Paying it forward
The last vestige of control
Only 4 of 6 cycles
Going the extra mile
Just do what you do
Art imitates life
Data synthesis in the pursuit of personhood
The backstory is really the front story
The angel on my shoulder
A brief clinician's guide to empathic expression.