Emotions, narratives and empathy in clinical communication

Bibliographic Data

ID12830677
AuthorsArnstein Finset (University of Oslo, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume10
Issue5
Pagese020-e020
Publication date2010-01-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Integrated Care (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1568-4156 • E-ISSN: 1568-4156
PublisherUbiquity Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.5334/ijic.490
PMID20228917
OpenAlexW1948714000
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited10

Patients sometimes report that doctors consider them a set of symptoms rather than a person. A recent article by a patient in a major Norwegian newspaper had the title ‘I am not a knee cap’. The author had suffered a knee injury, but felt that he was treated by doctors merely as a knee cap rather than as a human being. This feeling is hardly unique. In a focus group study a few years ago patients with rheumatic diseases reported similar experiences and emphasized the importance of being seen as an individual rather than a disease entity [1]. Moreover, in an empirical test of the Four Habits communication skills training model Krupat et al. found that skills in taking the patient perspective were among those performed most poorly in a sample of primary care physicians [2]

Empathy · Feeling · Media studies · Narrative · Newspaper · Norwegian · Perspective (graphical · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Test (biology · Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills · Empathy and Medical Education · Medicine · Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare · Psychology · Social Psychology