Hadassah Physician Promotes Caring and Empathy as Powerful Adjuncts to Medical Treatment
2-Feb-2010
Prof. Mayer Brezis
"Caring heals, but generally is not measured or rewarded in pay-for-performance health care," says Prof. Mayer Brezis, Director of Hadassah Hospital’s Center for Clinical Quality and Safety and a faculty member of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine.
 
Medical clowns at Hadassah
Prof. Brezis explains his position in an article entitled "Caring in Medicine: Missed Opportunity for Healing," which appeared in the December 2009 issue of Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. There is little room for empathy in medical practice, he says, because many medical students are advised to suppress their emotions in relating to patients and focus instead on the technical aspects of medical treatment. Nevertheless, he notes that research proves empathy helps patients heal. He cites as an example the benefits of medical clowns in improving the health of hospitalized patients.

"New economic models are needed to reward caring,” Prof. Brezis concludes.