emotions

History & Physical podcast series

Danielle Ofri discusses preserving empathy as a medical student, how she started writing, the role of narrative medicine, and the consequences of algorithmic medicine. More

Incidental Illness

How, in the quiet world of outpatient medicine, does one know when a life is saved? More

Dementia is not something we doctors talk much about. We all have many patients with dementia — and more every year — but we never seem to chat about it the way we discuss kidney disease or cancer treatment. Why the silence? More

Why Doctors Write

How does writing affect a doctor’s practice of medicine? What are the ethics of writing about patients? Should patients be part of the process? Watch the full program broadcast on WGBH -Boston. More

Acne

A young Navajo woman files silently into my office, making no eye contact. As she slips into the chair errant strands of black hair spill across her face. Through the breaches I catch glimpses of her rich dark skin riddled with the pockmarks of severe acne. More

The Small Costs

We all hear about “health care costs,” a lumbering behemoth that dominates the news. But it is the smaller amounts, literally the pocket money, that often has the strongest effect on the concrete currency of health. Sometimes doctors find themselves in the position of offering their patients a few dollars to help with a co-pay or transportation home. More

Why Doctors Don’t Take Sick Days

From day one in medical training, the unspoken message is that calling in sick is for wimps. Most doctors ignore their symptoms and resist taking the day off unless they are sick enough to be hospitalized in the next bed over. What explains this toxic brew of denial, ignorance and bravado? More

When Doctors Share With Patients

Doctors often “self-disclose” to patients in an attempt to empathize. But contrary to what might be expected, such self-disclosures often turned out not to be helpful in addressing patients’ concerns or building rapport. More

NYU Stories review of “What Doctors Feel”

A rare glimpse into the effects of shuttling from patient to patient without being allowed to process the powerful feelings—fear, anger, grief—that naturally arise when lives are at stake. More

The Raw Fear of Being a Patient

At that moment, my faith in science plummeted from beneath me. My decades of medical training, my Ph.D. in biochemistry, my grounding in the scientific method, all evaporated in the blink of an eye. More

Clinical Correlations review of “What Doctors Feel”

As the saxophone virtuoso Charlie Parker said, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” More

Science-Based Medicine review of “What Doctors Feel”

A patient might reasonably say “I don’t give a damn how my doctor feels as long as she gets me better,” but emotions affect everything we do, influencing clinical decisions and patient outcomes. More

Talking about Medical Errors

Doctors and nurses are petrified of making mistakes. They don’t want to kill their patients! But mistakes are inevitable and it’s critical to have a safe place to talk about and address the emotional aspect of medical errors. More

Hidden Curriculum of Medicine

Why do students lose touch with what drove them into medicine by the third year of school? Danielle Ofri talks about the hidden curriculum of medicine and its effect on students’ empathetic skills. More

Developing Empathy

Developing empathy requires good role models during clinical training. Those role models aren’t just your professors and your attendings. Teachers are everywhere in medicine, if you just keep your eyes open and pay attention. More