Leading with Empathy: Navigating Social Issues in Healthcare

Empathy is an important trait in humans. It’s what allows us to see the world from someone else’s perspective. It helps us form bonds, build trust, and share the emotions of others. Empathy is an important component of emotional intelligence, which is an enormous asset in the workplace.

In healthcare, empathy is especially important. People who are seeking medical care are in a vulnerable position. They might be scared, frustrated, confused, and experiencing severe discomfort. Empathy is absolutely critical for providing compassionate, high-quality care and building trust between patients and providers.

Healthcare leaders need to tap into the power of empathy to navigate persistent social issues in healthcare. Medicine involves much more than simply providing treatment— there is a critical social component as well. Effective health leaders will be able to recognize and tackle social issues with humanity and respect to help ensure quality care for all. 

Major Social Issues in Healthcare

Human health is affected by many different biological and social factors. Genetics, age, and sex play an important role in the health problems a person might develop, but they aren’t the only reason someone might experience health problems.

Other major factors are grouped into a category known as “social determinants of health.” These can include a person’s lifestyle, physical environment, socioeconomic status, education, past traumatic experiences, and other social factors. In many cases, social determinants of health dictate someone’s access to quality care and the stress involved in getting the care they need.

Social issues in healthcare stem from these social determinants of health. People frequently face discrimination when trying to get medical care due to their race, religion, sexual orientation, income, or housing status. Healthcare workers can also face discrimination on the job.

Health disparities due to discrimination and unequal access to care are responsible for the poor health of entire communities. These disparities are preventable and must be a priority for healthcare leaders. Empathetic leadership is critical for reducing the impact of health disparities and helping everyone feel safe in a healthcare setting.

Why Empathy is So Important in Healthcare Leadership

Healthcare is a business, it’s true. But if leaders lose sight of what’s truly important (people), it’s easy for the phrase “do no harm” to become a secondary concern. Leaders need to be able to put themselves into other people’s shoes, really listen to their needs, and make decisions based on what’s best for medical staff and patients.

Leadership sets the tone for any organization. Empathy in leadership can help boost morale among staff members and allow health organizations to focus on reducing health disparities at their facilities. It also leads to better communication and improved patient outcomes, which should be major goals of any healthcare organization.

Empathetic Leadership Can Reduce Discrimination and Improve Health Outcomes

Every single person needs access to healthcare. Empathetic leaders can help ensure that everyone who walks through the doors of their facility receives top-quality care by focusing on the patient experience, fostering cultural competence, and building trust between providers and patients.

Discrimination occurs when someone is different: a different race, gender, age, etc. In any scenario, discrimination is a major issue, but in a hospital setting, discrimination can be deadly. If a doctor doesn’t take a patient’s symptoms seriously due to their belief in a stereotype or implicit bias, for instance, that patient could be misdiagnosed or their concerns could be dismissed until it’s too late to provide effective treatment. If a patient is making racist remarks about a nurse, that nurse might not feel safe and valued at work.

Empathy is required to fight back against discrimination. Leaders need to be able to actively listen and see social issues from the perspective of the people who are being harmed by them. Empathetic leadership can help reduce discrimination and improve health outcomes by prompting leaders to create policies, training plans, and hiring protocols aimed at improving diversity and increasing health equity.

When Empathy Becomes Challenging

Although empathy in leadership can help healthcare organizations navigate social issues and improve the overall quality of care they offer, there are some challenges associated with taking an empathetic lens.

Constant empathizing can be exhausting for leaders. If they don’t get enough rest and they don’t have clear boundaries between their work and home lives, they are at risk of burning out over time. Some leaders also find that they have trouble managing their emotions when they lead with empathy, as they will naturally take on the emotional pain of other people.

For this reason, leaders need to focus on self-care when they’re not at work. When providing empathetic leadership, rest and relaxation are key.

Empathetic Leadership Improves Healthcare Organizations

Social issues are an ongoing problem in the healthcare system, as wealth disparities and diversity continue to grow. Healthcare professionals are overworked and often have low morale. Preventable medical errors have major consequences.

None of these problems has a simple fix, but empathetic leadership is part of the puzzle. By prioritizing empathy within their leadership teams, healthcare organizations can better retain staff and provide excellent patient outcomes. Everyone deserves respect and kindness within the medical field. When leaders push themselves to listen and gain new perspectives, great things can happen.