'Personal touch' with patients

If you’re a cancer patient and are looking for some form of emotional support from your doctor, don’t count on getting it. Your doctor may not have the disposition to provide it.

Researchers who analyzed the interactions between lung cancer patients and their physicians found the doctors did not give emotional support even when their patients were obviously in need of it.

The researchers from the University of Rochester in New York assessed the transcripts of taped conversations of consultations by men diagnosed for lung cancer and their physicians. In all cases, both doctors and patients were aware the consultations were being recorded.

The records showed there were 384 opportunities for the doctors to provide some empathy but they did not respond, except in 39 instances. According to the researchers, the results are in line with other studies saying doctors fail to respond to emotional needs of patients, not even to simply acknowledge the emotional difficulties of their situation.

The team observed that doctors responded readily to concrete concerns -- e.g. treatment, medication issues, or dealing with physical pain. But the physicians appeared to have difficulty addressing existential issues, which are likely to be the bulk of patient concerns:  their fears and worries, concerns about death or dying, their effort to fight the disease, or their worsening physical conditions.

These existential questions are of greater importance to majority of such patients. And the search for emotional support may be the most meaningful point of interaction between a patient and his/her doctor.

Empathy -- the ability to acknowledge and understand the situation and feelings of a fellow human -- has been shown to reduce anxiety among patients and to encourage closer compliance with treatment, thus improving overall patient satisfaction.

But it is not only the patient who benefits. There is also evidence that physicians and other health care professionals gain more satisfaction and suffer less burnout if they show more empathy with the patients they treat.

A professor of medicine at the Texas A&M College of Medicine emphasizes that the physician-patient relationship involves something more than merely formulating a diagnosis or devising a strategy for treatment. A physician who is unable to form and nurture close ties with his/her patients and alleviate their quality of life should re-evaluate what he/she is doing.

Part of the physician’s job is to find scientific ways to buy some time for the cancer patients. But the major job is to establish a bond with the patient and his/her family and to help them go through the crisis.

The most important aspect of the physician’s job is actually similar to that of a minister, lawyer or anyone else: To try and help the other person cope with life’s uncertainties.

The research report is published in the medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine, Sept. 22 issue.

Safety Tip:

* Look around for a doctor who has the ‘personal touch’ with patients. If you don’t know one, ask your friends or family for referrals.