One of our core values in our practice, is empathy. It is so important to us, that we include it in our practice charter. Here is a little summary of our Empathy and Compassion section of our charter.
Central to our core values is treating our patients with compassion and respect. Understanding how our patients may be feeling and being sympathetic about that is essential to how we provide care. We are committed to maintaining a deep awareness for our patients and each family’s needs. And we embrace the fact that having compassion for our patients and their families is a cornerstone of what pediatricians do.
Here is the thing though, despite having empathy as part of core value, we fall off the wagon from time to time. Why? Well, I think we get comfortable with our everyday task and the day-to-day patient loads that we forget to put ourselves in our patients’ shoes.
For us, after giving 100s of shots in a day, it stops being a big deal. But for parents, it isn’t as easy to handle. Many parents, when they see their kid’s eye shut and goo coming out, they freak out. The only time they’ve seen an eye closed by swelling is when they see a UFC fight. Pink eye for us is, well, pink eye. That’s all.
But we need to remind ourselves to understand and share the feelings of our patients.
Why?
Because keeping our empathy will always be one of the greatest tools we have to WOW parents.
I'm a practice administrator at a Pediatric office located in the western suburbs of Chicago. I write mostly about running a small business that happens to be a medical practice.
I’ve found that saying “I’m sorry that he’s sick” or “I know bud, shots aren’t any fun” and meaning it goes further than just about anything else I can do.
Yup. Empathy, acknowledging, understanding and compassion are all great to remind ourself of.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.