Bogachev, O. Yu. Empirical Study of Influence of Empathy on Doctor’s Activities (Based on the Example of Therapists and Surgeons)

Abstract: The article is based on the results of the empirical study of influence of empathy on doctor’s activities. Empathy is beneficial both for a patient and a doctor in the healing process. For doctors, empathy releases stress, exhaustion and makes a doctor feel better. For patients empathy based relations encourage them to follow the therapeutic regimen and feel satisfied with the doctor, improve the life quality and understand and accept medical information better. Medical treatment has certain specifics such as a wide differentiation of professional knowledge and skills and diversity of professionally important qualities necessary for performing this kind of activity. Modern health service is traditionally divided into the two kinds of medical assistance: therapeutic (conservative) and surgical (operative). Surgeon’s and therapist’s job analysis presents different requirements for professionally important qualities of these specialists. For instance, a surgeon must have such qualities as attention, good thinking abilities and will power. Therapist must have compassion, diligence, accuracy, communicative abilities and etc. The research shows the connection between the structure of empathy and efficient performance of therapists and surgeons and proves that empathy is an important quality for a therapist. Based on the results of the research, the author describes the structure of empathy of surgeons and therapists and the leading channels of their empathy structures. The author also shows the different influence of empathy on doctors majoring in different fields.

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