Empathy & Respect: Two Vital Virtues of Healthcare Professionals

Abstract

Healthcare providers are the humans with a special status that they use their profession to heal and comfort the ailing humanity. People with lots of physical or mental sufferings look at them for their help. This puts healthcare professionals at a position with highest expectations as regards with the competence, professionalism, and ethics. Different health related regulatory bodies, organizations and societies describe and expect high levels of competencies, capabilities, outcomes, and characteristics for the healthcare professionals to not only develop and acquire but also to exhibit and maintain throughout their professional careers. These may be categorized in different ways. A few of these should be called as “virtues”. In this account the focus will be on two of these most important rectitudes.

Every human demands and deserves respect. We are all equal as humans, despite belonging to different social, financial, or educational strata. As healthcare professionals or providers, the basic right of “Respect” should be given to every patient rather every human, even to the attendants. We the healthcare professionals work in a challenging, taxing, competing and monotonous stressful environment. There are typical corridors, ailing visuals, medical gadgetry, echoes of jargons, ahhs and cries. This becomes a routine for us to deal with humans in discomfort. But for a patient or the attendant it may be the very first time. Although we are at a high pedestal but he/ she is not so down also. No matter how compelled we are by the circumstances, should never compromise on the respect. Everyone feels good if respected, just as we feel when people give us respect.