Empathy is vital to being a good doctor

摘要

The aspiration to be a good doctor is probably common to us all, but what does it really mean? Has anyone denned "good?" I'm reminded of many personal statements I've read over the years in which students, vying for a highly sought after place in medical school, claim to be cut out for the job because they're empathetic or willing to go the extra mile to help others. Empathy is an ambiguous concept, but in medicine it can be loosely denned as an emotional experience between clinician and patient, where the clinician identifies with and transiently experiences the patient's emotional state. Importantly, it's thought to increase one's motivation to help others, so it's no surprise that empathy and altruism tend to go hand in hand.