The Role of Empathy in Therapeutic Relationships

As much as my eyes rolled during that mandatory five-hour session, my eyes were also opened to a fundamental dichotomy of our healthcare system. The healthcare system is a machine that churns tangible revenue while we clinicians are human beings who produce intangible results. Harmonizing the two creates a precarious balance. Patients are the key to swinging the balance toward a humanistic direction.

Rheumatologists and other clinicians must be dedicated to building that sense of empathy within ourselves and within our healthcare systems, not to improve such metrics as patient satisfaction scores or revenue for our institutions, but because it is fundamentally the right thing to do. That certainly is my takeaway from five hours of mandatory training.

Bharat Kumar, MD, MME, FACP, FAAAAI, RhMSUS, is the director of the rheumatology fellowship training program at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and the physician editor of The Rheumatologist. Follow him on X @BharatKumarMD.

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