Opinion

Gloria Chinyere Okwu: Doctors must treat patients like Humans not just statistics and numbers… Empathy should be a core practice in Medicine.

Photo from Gloria Chinyere Okwu/LinkedIn

Sep 19, 2023, 09:37

Gloria Chinyere Okwu: Doctors must treat patients like Humans not just statistics and numbers… Empathy should be a core practice in Medicine.

Gloria Chinyere Okwu, Program Coordinator/Head of Programs at , shared on LinkedIn:

“I represented Project Pink Blue at the one-day intensive training for Resident doctors and Clinicians on ‘Breaking the bad News’ in Enugu.

Being told that one has cancer is traumatizing and life-changing. How this news is broken could be the difference between a downward spiral of one’s mental health and a surge in courage to face one’s fate.

Patients often report of a robotic, non-empathetic approach of health professionals in announcing such diagnoses. This shouldn’t be the case.
Don’t talk about your patients to your students like they’re just a piece of hospital furniture. Don’t allow patients to stumble on critical information, Don’t dehumanize your patient by your tone and demeanor. Your patient’s mental health is as important as his physical well-being. Don’t give false hope too!

It could be anyone on the other side of the table! As a patient, I understand it’s not easy for health professionals given the lean resources and training to work with. Yet, we must hold them responsible for the lives entrusted to their care.

Doctors must treat patients like Humans not just statistics and numbers… Empathy should be a core practice in Medicine.”

Gloria Chinyere Okwu: Doctors must treat patients like Humans not just statistics and numbers... Empathy should be a core practice in Medicine.