This artwork shows a man trying to alter the way he thinks. The altering of one’s way of thinking can be related to the experience I have encountered in one of my clinical placements. This has changed my way of thinking as I had to work with patients that have a complete opposite mindset to what I have and due to this I had to work based on the ethical issue of self-regulation and empathy. In a self-regulated profession such as physiotherapy, it is important that your personal interests never come before the interests of the clients hence I have to respect the autonomy.

According to Entwistle, Carter, Cribb & McCaffery (2010), relational understandings of autonomy attempt to explain both the positive and negative implications of social relationships for individuals’ autonomy. They suggest that many healthcare practices can affect autonomy by virtue of their effects not only on patients’ treatment preferences and choices, but also on their self-identities, self-evaluations and capabilities for autonomy. Relational understandings de-emphasize independence and facilitate well-nuanced distinctions between forms of clinical communication that support and that undermine patients’ autonomy.

My patient believed that he does not have to adhere to home exercises. Non-adherence is a major contributor to poor health outcomes that often goes undetected and I really felt like if the patient does not want to adhere to my home exercise prescription he should just not return if he suffers a relapse.  After this incident, I realized that my perspective of how a patient should live their life should not be based on what I think is right or wrong. I need to learn and apply ethical values which will help me make the patient feel respected and not make them feel undermined or judged for the decisions they make. Instead, I should just educate them on why I am saying adherence is very important with regards to the treatment. Furthermore, I need to have empathy. In a general sense, empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” In addition, I realized that aside from improving patient satisfaction, physician empathy can have an impact on patient care outcomes.

Since this encounter I have now learned that displaying more empathy could be more likely to engage in shared decision-making, or to hear specific patient needs that result in better, quality care. This is fundamental, as it won’t make the patient feel like they are being  criticized, as criticism may hinder the effectiveness of my treatment. In brief, empathy is an important indicator of quality care and better patient-provider relationships, making it a stalwart in the patient-provider relationship (Heath, 2018).

References

Definition of EMPATHY. (2019). Retrieved 24 August 2019, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy

Entwistle, V., Carter, S., Cribb, A., & McCaffery, K. (2010). Supporting Patient Autonomy: The Importance of Clinician-patient Relationships. Journal Of General Internal Medicine, 25(7), 741-745. doi: 10.1007/s11606-010-1292-2

Heath, S. (2018). Understanding Physician Empathy, How It Impacts Patient Care. Retrieved 24 August 2019, from https://patientengagementhit.com/news/understanding-physician-empathy-how-it-impacts-patient-care