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International Online Conference on:
How Might We Build a Culture of Empathy?
Permanently Ongoing

Index: Panel 20
Date:  November 14, 2012,
Time:  12 PM PST
Title:  Empathy in Critical Care.

Part of the Sub Conference: Empathy and Health Care

Sample Questions for the Panel:

  • How do you define Empathy? 

  • Please describe your work and why the principle of empathy is relevant to it.

  • The theory of Counter-Transference in Psychology postulates that the practitioner's feelings are entangled with the patient's. Does this also happen in the medical field?

  • How is compassion related to empathy in your professional opinion?

  • What are the differences and are both necessary in medical care or in your work otherwise?

  • How do those providing objective medical care, especially around the grim subject of one's own death, provide compassionate care without absorbing the emotions surrounding imminent death?

  • What is the difference between Sympathy and Empathy?

  • How does one foster and nurture empathy within the context of your work?

Panel 20 - Empathy in Critical Care - Empathy in Health Care Conference

 

Discussion Transcript and Outline:

  • 00:00 Introduction

  • (transcription pending)

  • (Video Transcriptions: If you would like to take empathic action and create a transcription of this video, check the volunteers page.  The transcriptions will make it easier for other viewers to quickly see the content of this video.)


Panelists:

  Keonnis R. Taylor,  MPA  (producer/moderator)
       Executive Director. Comfort Homesake. Comfort Homesake provides Empathy Training to individuals and groups. As the Executive Director of Comfort Homesake, it is my job to lead an effort to advocate and educate around the benefits of hospice and advanced care planning. This work has partnered my organization with respected leaders in government, healthcare, local communities, and the private sector. As we champion a standard of care that "no one likes to talk about,"  I have found that a constant point of connection in discussing the needs of an aging society and those facing debilitating illness and/or medically frailty is the need for empathy.
 
       
  Jodi Halpern, M.D., Ph.D
    Jodi Halpern, M.D., Ph.D, is Associate Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Joint Medical Program and the School of Public Health. As a psychiatrist with a background in philosophy, she investigates how emotions and the imagination shape healthcare decisions of clinicians and patients. Her work has had a longstanding focus on empathy. She is the author of From Detached Concern to Empathy: Humanizing Medical Practice (Oxford University Press). Jodi is also a featured contributor to The Huffington Post.
       
  Barbara Beach, M.D.
     

Barbara Beach, M.D. is Co-founder and Medical Director of George Mark Children's House. Barbara has been a pediatric oncologist at Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland for more than 30 years. As a result of her clinical interaction with Dr. Kathy Hull in the 1990’s, Barbara’s long-held dream of building a pediatric palliative care center was realized with the opening of George Mark Children’s House in 2004. Barbara completed her pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital Oakland and her pediatric hematology oncology fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. She also has served as medical advisor for Hospice for Young People and Comfort for Kids. 

       
  Marilyn Ababio, MPA
      Marilyn Ababio, MPA began her career in the military, has been a successful business owner for nearly 30 years, and is a published researcher, presenter and author on issues of Ethnic Diversity, Environmental Justice, and Transportation. After the prolonged illness and eventual passing of a close family member, Marilyn brought her range of skills and experiences together, and in 2002 founded Comfort Homesake, a 501c3 hospice advocacy organization where she now serves as Chair of the Board of Directors. In addition to running her award-winning garment business, and extensive civic engagements, Marilyn also serves as the Hospice Systems Coordinator for Alameda County. 
       
  Edwin Rutsch       Convener/Panelist
    Edwin Rutsch is founding director of the Center for Building a Culture of Empathy. See his full Bio here.

 

       


 

Panel 20:  Empathy in Critical Care - Empathy and Healthcare Conference
Keonnis R. Taylor
Jodi Halpern
Barbara Beach
Marilyn Ababio
Edwin Rutsch
This panel with experts in the field of healthcare explored the role of empathy and compassion in providing medical care.
The panel included;

A few of the questions addressed were;

  •  How do those providing objective medical care, especially around the grim subject of one's own death, provide compassionate care without absorbing the emotions surrounding imminent death?
  • Please describe your work and why the principle of empathy is relevant to it?
  • The theory of Counter-Transference in Psychology postulates that the practitioner's feelings are entangled with the patient's. Does this also happen in the medical field? etc.
    Sub Conference: Health Care

Notes:

Dear Partners in Empathy

It's been my pleasure to coordinate with each of you to prepare a professional panel on the topic of Empathy. As the Executive Director of Comfort Homesake, it is my job to lead an effort to advocate and educate around the benefits of hospice and advanced care planning. This work has partnered my organization with respected leaders in government, healthcare, local communities, and the private sector. As we champion a standard of care that "no one likes to talk about,"  I have found that a constant point of connection in discussing the needs of an aging society and those facing debilitating illness and/or medically frailty is the need for empathy.

Comfort Homesake has developed the Empathy training program as a key component of it's Education platform. The program has garnered funding and support from the Alameda County Health Services Agency as well as Stanford University School of Medicine's Ethnogeriatrics Program. We are currently embarking on our pilot program, and have joined forces with the Center for Building a Culture of Empathy to deliver this web-based panel discussion to bring awareness to empathy, through the lens of our organizational expertise -- hospice and end-of-life care.