India's Healthcare Crisis: Can Patient-Provider Both Be Treated With Empathy?

How society perceives doctors plays a large part in the way the patient-doctor relationship evolves going forward.

Image: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint

During and after the recent Covid pandemic, most of us have been in the position of being in the waiting room or reception of a hospital awaiting a word with the doctors. There could have been a wide variety of responses each one of us might have gotten from the doctors or nurses about ourselves or our loved ones …that moment of trepidation right before you get the news, the scare, the anxiety, and the sheer stress of it all.

Did you not wish someone could have been there for you to guide you through the ordeal, help you navigate through the often life-changing medical decisions? If someone could be in your shoes just for a few minutes and then talk with empathy, wouldn’t the situation you found yourself in at the hospital been a tad bit more bearable? On the other hand, were you a healthcare worker who felt misunderstood, undervalued, or burnt out, wishing that someone could have better understood you and the ordeals you were going through?

Empathy Crisis Plagues India's Healthcare Sector

In the words of Alfred Adler, the renowned Austrian psychotherapist, “Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.” With the constant strife around us and the hectic pace of today’s life, we all need to receive and give empathy to those around us.

Society is suffering because in general, we lack empathy. Similar is the case with the healthcare community. Both the patient and their families along with the healthcare professionals feel that their lives could be better with a bit more understanding from the ‘other side.’

Take the recent example of a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) whose father was admitted to the ICU of a big corporate hospital in Delhi, was unable to get a reasonable response from the hospital about his father’s condition. He had to rush down thousands of miles just to know whether his father will survive or not.

Another instance is of an elderly couple whose young son was suddenly hospitalised at midnight and asked to undergo an emergency cardiac procedure. They were not only clueless about their son’s illness but also totally ticked off at the curt and brusque dealing of the hospital staff. News like these cause shivers to even the brave-hearted. There are myriad other such instances across hospitals in the country.

At the same time, a recent survey done in April 2022 by Indian Medical Association (IMA) reported that over 80% of doctors in India are stressed out in their profession.

Newer research continues to indicate that the suicide rate among doctors outpaces the rate of suicides among general public. The common contributing factors for this include lack of sleep, overwork, fear of persecution by disgruntled patients or their relatives, fear of violence on them, and lack of appreciation from patients among others. This study indicates that doctors are also suffering from lack of empathy, albeit silently.

A case in point is the suicide committed by a female doctor last year who in her suicide note, explicitly mentioned that the reason for her suicide was public harassment, and fear of violence against her family. When doctors are being constantly criticised and judged even when innocent, how can they do their work with dedication and sincerity?

How the Pandemic Exposed Crackdown on Nurses

During the two waves of the Covid pandemic, nurses in India have faced the biggest brunt. According to the Nursing Superintendent of a leading hospital chain, most of the nurses in her team were young girls between the age of 22-30 years.

They and their families didn’t want them to risk their lives or face harassment from relatives of patients, and would rather quit. Social ostracisation was also a reality faced by the nurses during the pandemic as they were perceived to be carriers of the dreaded pandemic.

Thus, we stand at crossroads where on one hand, in general, patients and their families are feeling cheated or ill-treated or not being cared for by their medical caregivers while on the other, healthcare professionals are facing increasing burnout which is not only affecting their mental health but also impacting their ability to treat their patients, thereby, compounding the issue significantly. The big question, therefore, is to find creative ways of solving this conundrum.

Nearly all major hospitals came up with compulsory psychological support/counseling sessions for their staff during the Covid pandemic to counter work stress. Many employee and patient engagement events were held at various hospitals so that the families of patients and the hospital staff could bond better.

The role of patient coordinators was highlighted. Emphasis was given on providing detailed updates about the condition of the patient, to be shared with the patient’s relatives to soothe their anxieties. The government has also come up with policies to prevent violence against medical professionals so that they can work without fear.

Kindness Is the Key for Effective Care & Cure

Truth be told, even these measures don’t suffice to fill the empathy gap that is present in the field of healthcare in India today. We need to build an empathetic relationship between health professionals and patients which will reinforce their cooperation towards designing a therapeutic plan and a tailor-made intervention, thus, increasing the patient’s satisfaction from the therapeutic process.

Furthermore, studies have shown that a happy and satisfied patient in turn, results in a satisfied healthcare provider as well. Empathy is a skill which can be taught. Hence, importance should be given towards fostering empathy among medical students during their medical education.

At the same time, healthcare professionals need support from the society and media to portray them in the right context and as positive role models. How society perceives doctors plays a large part in the way the patient-doctor relationship evolves going forward. In conclusion, empathy in the healthcare domain is a multi-dimensional construct where all the stakeholders need to understand each other’s perspective and genuinely develop trust in each other.

(The authors are associated with the Indian School of Business. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the authors' own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for their views.)