Empathy

Dr. Pauline W. Chen, M.D., wrote an article in the NY Times recently, reporting on a study about docs and empathy and time.  She noted that she always believed that it takes more time to listen and answer empathetically to patients.  But a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine "found that physicians overwhelmingly miss opportunities to express empathy to their patients," partly due to "lack of time," according to the authors. But, based on her own experiences, Dr. Chen argues that "empathy, expressed throughout a patient-doctor encounter, may actually help to alleviate problems with time." She suggests that "too little empathy, or empathy expressed too late in an encounter, may actually result in longer visits."

WHAT A CONCEPT! Actually I've known this for a long time. Time spent, I believe (and this is purely anecdotal, biased and with a p>.05) that spending that time reduced after visit phone calls, revisits for dumb things (additional schedule killer), etc. Empathy as a methodology for time management.  I wonder if I can empathize my way through this weekend to Monday's exams?