In my last post I introduced the idea that clinicians' emotions can be useful in the care of patients. Here are a few examples of how this could be so:
Sympathy with patients may heighten clinicians' senses, helping them pick up clues from the history provided by patients or from their physical examination of patients.
Clinicians' desire to save lives may energize them when they have gone without sleep and help them focus when they have gone without food.
Clinicians' desire to relieve suffering may help them find equanimity when caring for angry or mean patients. It may push them to search the literature and obtain curbside consults from colleagues when usual remedies don't offer patients relief.
Clinicians' hopefulness may help them guide patients through Plan "B" or "C" or however many it takes, when Plan "A" doesn't fix patients' problem.
When clinicians are grateful for and happy about patients' recoveries, these patients feel their healthcare team cares about them as well as cares for them.
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