Empathy in healthcare

Veterinary healthcare

Empathy in veterinary medicine poses special challenges due to the varied contexts of veterinary care. Some aspects of veterinary medicine closely resemble human medicine; others are very different. As in human medicine, there is evidence suggesting that empathy declines throughout veterinary training but the phenomenon is poorly understood and, for example, no studies have been conducted with veterinary nurses, whose role is central to empathic veterinary practice; much more research is needed. 

How is empathy deployed in the varied contexts of veterinary medicine where some patients are ‘almost human’ and others are reared for food? Is there a concept of ‘one empathy’ applicable to all animals, or does it depend on how individual animals or groups of animals are constructed as the subjects of veterinary care?

Empathy between humans is vital in veterinary medicine as every domestic animal has a carer or keeper attached to them, and veterinary teams often work in emotionally-demanding situations where empathy for each other is paramount in order to avoid burnout, disillusionment and loss to the veterinary professions through poor mental health and well-being. 

Research shows that social animals can show empathy towards each other, suggesting that empathy is an important evolutionary adaptation. Similarly, animals may be capable of showing empathic-like behaviours towards humans in distress. These findings suggest ethical implications surrounding how we understand and implement empathy in the One Health context. 

Human healthcare

Empathy is a basic human attribute and value, with increasing evidence of its importance in a wide variety of many areas of human endeavour. The evidence-base for the importance of empathy in human healthcare has burgeoned over the last 20 years. Physician empathy develops trust and a therapeutic relationship with patients, and results in a better health outcomes across a wide range of conditions. It can also protect healthcare professionals from burn-out, thus supporting retention. Yet many studies indicate a drop on empathy as medical students go through their training. A group of leading doctors and academics in empathy published the Leicester Empathy Declaration in 2024:

“Recognizing that empathy-informed healthcare is essential for the wellbeing of healthcare professionals and their patients, we declare that all schools of medicine and nursing and all healthcare systems should adopt policies and procedures to address and implement training in empathy and compassion for self and others.”

The Declaration sets goals at three levels:

• Goals for patients: Consistent high levels of empathic care.
• Goals for practitioners: Formal, evidence-based and inspiring empathy training and support, including revalidation where this is feasible.
• Goals for systems: Workplace conditions that include empathic leadership as well as psychological and physical spaces that facilitate empathic relationships.

Recent scholarship in therapeutic empathy has included a systematic review of empathy definitions which found that there were more similarities than differences in empathy definitions within human healthcare.