EMPATHY IN ACTION: THE EVALUATION OF DOCTORS' EMPATHETIC COMMUNICATION THROUGH PATIENTS' EXPERIENCES AT SIR SUNDERLAL HOSPITAL IN VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH

Abstract

 The architecture of patient-centered care is believed to be built upon the foundational pillars of empathy and compassion, firmly established by doctors toward their patients. Empathetic communication is vital for active doctor-patient interactions as it lays the groundwork for open and unrestricted communication in which patients feel that their health-related concerns are actively heard and valued. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out with the use of non-random sampling procedures and purposeful samples to assess patient satisfaction levels with doctors' empathetic behaviour during consultations at Sir Sunderlal Hospital, Varanasi. Following the visits with doctors, a sample of 108 patients answered a two-page questionnaire. The primary section of the questionnaire included quick demographic information of the respondent and consultation-related inquiry, followed by a rating of overall satisfaction through the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) questionnaire. The study's inclusion criteria, which included the period and frequency of counselling sessions, were met by 108 patients, ages 20 to 70, who volunteered for the study. The degree of agreement among the respondents regarding their experiences with doctors' empathetic behaviours and communication patterns during the consultation at Sir Sunderlal Hospital suggests that the data points are rather clustered around the mean, with a moderate degree of variability in the responses ranging from 0.725 to 1.385 standard deviation (SD). According to patient assessments of physician empathy, researchers found that patients reported generally high levels of satisfaction with the empathetic care for them during consultations with their doctors.