Compassion & Healthcare Quality

Whenever a healthcare provider experiences any form of burnout - physical, mental or emotional - or goes through a stressful period in their life, they are more likely to experience depersonalization  of patients. This is a phenomena that causes an inability to form personal connections with patients as a healthcare provider as it causes one to  think of patients as objects instead of people; or they have become hardened or ignorant of patients’ needs. In other words, depersonalization is a lack of compassion that is caused by external factors.

There has been evidence to support that there is a correlation between a healthcare provider's level of compassion and the rate of medical errors that occur. 

A study conducted by Mayo clinic researchers surveyed 184 internal medicine residents over the course of 3 months and the results saw that residents who had the highest level of depersonalization had a 50% higher chance of committing a medical error within the next three months (West et al., 2006).

The results of this study is alarming because it can be argued that internal medicine is one of the less stressful residencies, yet the rate of depersonalization is so high that a medical error is more likely to happen. Imagine the implications of how other healthcare providers in more stressful situations are.